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LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 

PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.    ALFRED  W.     INGALLS 


Books  by  William  Root  Bliss 

Colonial  Times  on  Buzzard's  Bay 

With    Map    and    Facsimiles.       New    Edition. 
Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  ^1.50. 

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The    Old    Colony    Town,    and    Other 
Sketches 

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Side  Glimpses  from  the  Colonial  Meet- 
ing-House 
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Published  by 
Messrs.  Houghton^  Mifflin  y  Company 

&  Sold  by  all  the  Booksellers 


Colonial  Times  on 
Buzzard's  Bay 

by 
William  Root  Bliss 

ilieix)  C^Dition 


Boston  and  New  York 

Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Company 

<^z  mibec^itie  "^xzii^  Cambribge 

1 901 


I) 


Copyright,  1888,  1900 
By  WILLIAM  ROOT  BLISS 

All  rights  reserved 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S,  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Company 


91  ©ebicate  tbii^  'iSBoofi 

TO  MY  WIFE, 

ELIZABETH    FEARING, 

ONE   OF  THE  GREAT-GRKAT-GRANDDAUGHTKRS  OF 

ISRAEL  FEARING,  Esquire, 

OF   THE   AGAWAME   PLANTATION,   WHO  WAS  A   GRANDSON  OF 

JOHN   FEARING, 

OF  NORFOLK  COUNTY  IN  OLD  ENGLAND, 

WHO   LANDED   AT    HINGHAM,    MASSACHUSETTS, 

IN   THE   YEAR    1635. 


In  preparing  this  book  I  have  used  the  fol- 
lowing original  manuscripts  ;  namely  —  the 
Records  of  the  Rochester  Propriety^  begin- 
ning in  the  year  l6yg ;  the  Records  of  the 
Agawame  Plantation,  begintiing  in  the  year 
l68^ ;  the  Records  of  Rochestertown,  be- 
gifining  in  the  year  j6g4 ;  the  Records  of 
Wareham,  town  and  church,  beginning  in 
the  year  Ijjg,  the  diary  and  account  book 
of  Israel  Fearing,  farmer  and  justice  of  the 
peace  from  I 'J 20  to  1^54^  ^''^^  similar  writ- 
ings by  his  son  John  a7id  his  grandson  John, 
farmers  and  justices  of  the  peace  under  the 
royal  government  and  under  the  independent 
commonwealth  ;  also  various  old  manuscripts 
belonging  to  Mr.  Gerard  C.  Tobey  of  Wareham. 
Studying  these  writings,  I  have  tried  to  illu- 
mine their  skeleton  sketches  of  men  ajtd  evejtts 
with  the  color  and  spirit  of  their  times. 

Greystones,  Short  Hills, 

Essex  County,  New  Jersey. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

A  Prelude ii 

The  Lands  of  Sippican 19 

The  Agawame  Plantation         ....  44 

Colonial  Farmers 55 

The  Squire 71 

The  Birth  of  a  Town 77 

The  Town's  Mind 84 

Impressments  for  the  King         ....  104 

The  Town's  Meeting-House      .        .        .        .  in 

A  Sunday  Morning  in  1771 127 

The  Town's  Minister 136 

The  Town's  Schoolmaster 161 

Town  Life  in  the  Revolution        .        .        .  169 

Town  Life  after  the  War 192 

The  British  Raid 210 

The  Town's  Bass-Viol 218 

Final  Transformations 223 

Appendix 239 

Indexes 245 


6315 


The  Upper  Shore  of  Buzzards  Bay. 


A  PRELUDE 


HE  story  told  in  this  book  begins  in 
the  year  1680,  when  a  few  English- 
men of  the  Plymouth  colony  made  a 
plantation  near  Sippican  harbor  on  the  upper 
shore  of  Buzzard's  Bay ;  and  it  ends  in  the 
year  when  a  railroad,  creeping  down  from 
Boston,  entered  the  same  region  and  changed 
the  morals,  manners,  and  occupations  of  its 
inhabitants. 

These  planters  belonged  to  the  class  which 
Governor  Bradford  described  as  "  used  to  a 
plaine  countrie  life  and  ye  innocente  trade 
of  husbandrie  ; "  in  pursuit  of  this  trade  they 
came  to  seek  richer  pastures  than  were  to 
be  found  on  the  Plymouth  shore.  When  they 
laid  out  their  new  homesteads,  allotting  to 
each  associate  sections  of  woodland,  salt 
meadow,  cedar  swamp,  and  sea  beach,  they 
provided  for  certain  future  necessities  by 
reserving  lands  "for  the  yuse  of  the  minis- 
trie,"  for  a  grist-mill,  a  saw-mill,  a  fishing 


12  A   PRELUDE. 

Station,  and  one  lonesome  acre  for  a  burying 
place. 

"  The  dreariest  spot  in  all  the  land 
To  death  they  set  apart, 
With  scanty  grace  from  nature's  hand 
And  none  from  that  of  art." 

The  solitude  of  the  situation  and  its  re- 
moteness from  English  settlements  forced 
them  to  rely  upon  their  own  resources. 
They  wove  flax  and  sheep's  wool  into  mate- 
rials for  clothing ;  they  made  and  shared  in 
use  the  plows  and  tools  needed  in  their 
methods  of  agriculture  ;  they  cut  firewood 
in  a  common  forest  and  grazed  cattle  in 
common  pastures ;  they  built  sloops  for 
freighting  and  fishing,  and  traded  with  each 
other  by  "  truck  and  dicker."  Their  re- 
cords show  that  they  had  no  religious  big- 
otry, no  enmity  to  Quakers,  no  belief  in 
witchcraft,  no  enthusiasm  for  public  schools, 
no  disloyalty  to  the  king. 

In  the  course  of  time,  families  expanded 
around  the  homesteads  and  formed  small  iso- 
lated villages.  Before  them  was  the  open 
bay ;  behind  them  was  a  primeval  forest 
stretching  away  for  miles  and  miles,  offering 
no   lines   of   travel   except   the  meandering 


A   PRELUDE.  13 

paths  trodden  out  by  Indians  on  their  jour- 
neys to  the  shore  for  shell-fish,  or  by  herds 
of  deer  going  to  and  from  the  watering 
places.  At  the  outset  this  forest  was  es- 
teemed as  a  valuable  inheritance.  From  its 
pine  knots  tar  was  made  in  restricted  quan- 
tities and  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  to  be 
bartered  for  such  tropical  products  as  were 
needed  at  home ;  and  lest  a  time  might 
come  when  the  inheritance  would  be  in 
ruins  because  of  a  wasteful  felling  of  its 
pine,  oak,  and  spruce  trees,  it  was  decreed 
that  no  timber  of  any  sort  shall  be  carried 
away  ;  that  no  man  shall  cut  posts,  rails,  or 
house-frames  except  for  his  own  use  ;  and 
every  boat's  load  of  white  cedar  brought  to 
the  landing  for  shipment  abroad  shall  pay 
an  export  tax  in  money.  Their  principle  of 
political  economy  was  the  "protection"  of 
future  values.  To  this  action  the  upper 
shore  of  Buzzard's  Bay  owes  its  picturesque 
woodlands ;  while  the  highlands  of  Cape 
Cod,  not  far  away,  are  barren  of  trees,  al- 
though they  were  once  covered  by  a  dense 
forest. 

Circumstances  disciplined  these  people  to 
habits   of   severe   frugality.      It   was    their 


14  A   PRELUDE. 

custom  to  record  all  barters  with  each  other 
and  all  bargains  for  labor,  and  to  make  the 
final  reckoning  in  presence  of  debtor  and 
creditor,  each  of  whom  searched  the  record 
for  errors.  If  one  was  found,  as  *'  a  mistake 
of  two  quarts  of  molasses,"  it  was  noted  and 
a  settlement  of  the  account  was  recorded  as 
"from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the 
date  hereof."  A  laborer  who  hired  himself 
out  for  a  year  was  sure  to  find  his  account 
charged  with  time  lost  in  sickness,  as  "  Dr 
to  the  fever  and  ague  —  4  fits  one  week  and 
2  fits  the  next."  To  the  readers  of  this 
book  such  petty  economies  and  small  ways 
of  trade  will  appear  mean  and  ridiculous  if 
contrasted  with  the  generous  methods  of 
modern  times.  But  let  us  remember  that 
these  men  and  women  were  poor  at  the  be- 
ginning, that  they  had  known  things  only 
in  the  small,  that  their  daily  life  was  labor 
from  sunrise  to  sunset,  that  there  was  little 
or  no  money  to  be  had,  that  those  who  got 
any  earned  it  farthing  by  farthing,  and  its 
great  cost  made  them  loath  to  part  with  it. 
"  It  is  good,"  said  James  Russell  Lowell,^ 
"  to   commemorate  this   homespun   past  of 

1  Address  at  the  250th  anniversary  of  Harvard  College. 


A  PRELUDE.  15 

ours  ;  good  in  these  days  of  a  reckless  and 
swaggering  prosperity  to  remind  ourselves 
how  poor  our  fathers  were." 

The  four  towns  which  have  grown  up 
from  the  little  villages  that  were  formed  by 
the  settlers  on  the  upper  shore  of  Buzzard's 
Bay,  have  from  early  times  been  the  homes 
of  explorers,  sea-captains,  and  shipbuilders. 
Of  these  towns,  Rochester,  once  the  most 
important  of  all,  whose  territory  included 
the  western  shore  of  the  bay  as  far  down  as 
Dartmouth,  has  given  all  its  salt-water  front 
to  its  offsprings,  Wareham,  Marion,  and 
Mattapoiset.  It  is  now  an  inland  farm, 
"half  drowned  in  sleepy  peace." 

Old,  seagoing,  whale-catching  Mattapoiset, 
once  busy  with  ships  and  shipbuilding,  is 
now  looking  off  upon  the  sparkling  bay  from 
grass-covered  wharves.  To  its  summer  in- 
habitants, returning  every  year  from  distant 
cities,  it  appears  to  be  the  "  enchantress  of 
repose,"  while  from  their  lawns  and  beaches 
they  watch  the  tides 

"  O'er-creep  the  ridgy  sand, 
Or  tap  the  tarry  boat  with  gentle  blow, 
And  back  return  in  silence,  smooth  and  slow." 


1 6  A  PRELUDE. 

Marion,  stretched  along  the  southern  edge 
of  an  almost  land-locked  harbor,  has  lost  its 
colonial  name  of  Sippican  (the  oldest  name 
on  the  bay),  under  which  it  long  retained 
the  simple  characteristics  of  a  self-support- 
ing village.  Its  men  who  chanced  to  go  to 
sea  returned  after  a  while  to  live  in  their 
small,  square  houses,  decorating  them  with 
tropical  shells,  bunches  of  coral,  and  other 
tokens  of  long  voyages.  Now  the  old  houses 
are  summer  homes  of  persons  at  leisure, 
brand  new  cottages  overlook  the  bay,  and 
the  modernized  town  is  annually  thriving  on 
the  business  of  a  summer  season, 

Wareham,  the  most  active  town  on  the 
bay,  stretching  its  domain  from  the  western 
around  to  the  eastern  shore,  is  the  very  land 
of  trout  brooks  and  cranberry  harvests. 
The  abundance  of  fish  both  in  its  rivers 
and  streams,  and  also  in  the  bay,  —  in  fresh 
water  and  in  salt  water  alike,  —  was  charac- 
teristic of  Wareham  in  colonial  times,  and 
it  still  continues  to  be  the  chief  attraction 
to  the  many  sportsmen  with  rod  and  hand- 
line  who  annually  seek  its  woods  and  shores. 
The  town  also  attracts  a  numerous  summer 
population  which  sometimes  lingers  into  the 


A  PRELUDE.  17 

autumn,  when  large  patches  of  blue  fringed 
gentians  are  to  be  seen  blossoming  by  the 
roadsides.  Its  belts  of  oaks,  in  which  chil- 
dren search  for  mayflowers  when  south  winds 
have  melted  the  snow ;  its  pine  woodlands, 
"  with  soft-brown  silence  carpeted  ;  "  its 
three  rivers,  its  ponds  and  far  outlooks  over 
the  bay,  are  allurements  to  those  who  have 
come  from  a  distance  and  built  cottages  on 
Onset  bluffs,  or  costly  dwelling-houses  on  the 
necks  and  headlands  of  Agawame. 

In  none  of  these  towns  does  there  remain 
anything  that  belonged  to  the  life  of  colonial 
times  except  a  few  volumes  of  old  records, 
which  have  an  agreeable  savor  of  quaintness 
and  were  written  with  laborious  care,  as  if 
the  unskilled  writers  were  conscious  of  an 
obligation  resting  upon  them  to  preserve  — 
what  has  been  said  to  be  one  of  the  most 
interesting  forms  of  human  knowledge  —  a 
knowledge  of  the  details  of  the  Past. 


COLONIAL   TIMES 
ON   BUZZARD'S    BAY. 

I. 

THE   LANDS   OF   SIPPICAN. 

EAVING  the  cars  of  the  Cape  Cod 
railroad  at  a  junction  where  iron- 
works have  gathered  around  them  a 
dun-colored  village,  you  enter  a  wagon  and 
drive  away  in  the  deep  ruts  of  a  sandy  road 
which  passes  through  pine  woods  and  crosses 
other  sandy  roads.  Guide-posts  standing  at 
the  crossings  point  in  an  uncertain  way  to 
Plymouth,  or  Sandwich,  or  New  Bedford  ; 
and  in  the  roadside  bushes  is  seen  a  colonial 
milestone  so  old  and  bruised  by  time  that 
no  traveler  can  tell  to  what  place  it  would 
now  direct  him.  After  many  windings  the 
road  reaches  Fearing  Hill.  Here,  in  a  yard 
shaded  by  elm-trees,  stands  a  dwelling-house 
of  ancient  style,  in  which  lived  "  Our  trusty 
and  well-beloved  John  Fearing  Esquire  ;  "  as 
he  was  called  in  the  Commission  which  he 
held  as  a  Justice  of  King  George  the  Second. 
In  front  of  the  house  passes  an  old  high- 


20  COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

way  called  the  country  road,  coming  from  the 
east,  and  going  down  the  western  shore  of 
the  bay.  It  was  an  ancient  path  when  the 
English  settled  in  this  region,  and  in  the  ear- 
liest lay-out  of  lands  it  was  mentioned  as  then 
existing.  Against  the  rude  stone  walls  mark- 
ing its  boundaries  purple  wood-asters  and 
blackberry  vines  are  clustered,  in  the  adja- 
cent fields  yellow  primroses  and  meadow 
pinks  are  blooming,  and  the  soft  September 
air  is  laden  with  the  perfume  of  Indian  posies. 
Looking  around,  you  are  impressed  by  the 
picturesque  scenery  and  the  quiet  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. On  the  northern  horizon  stretches 
an  edge  of  Plymouth  Woods,  whose  tree-tops 
catch  the  mists  blown  over  from  the  ocean 
when  the  wind  is  northeast.  Half  a  mile 
eastward  stands  a  ridge  of  low  hills  covered 
with  pine-trees,  and  through  the  valley  at 
their  feet  runs  the  Weweantet  River  south- 
ward to  the  bay.  The  highway  crosses  the 
river  by  a  narrow  bridge,  the  approach  to 
which  is  hedged  by  tall  bushes  of  syringas, 
buttonwoods,  and  alders.  Below  the  bridge 
the  stream  is  checked  by  a  dam  which  ex- 
pands it  to  a  broad  pond,  creeping  over  mead- 
ows on  this  side  and  into  wooded  coves  on  the 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  21 

Other.  When  the  water  is  low  a  few  tree- 
stumps  dotting  its  surface  appear  in  the 
shadowy  distance  Hke  little  boats  at  anchor. 

You  hear  the  hum  of  a  nail  factory,  out  of 
sight,  and  you  see  its  steam-jets  floating  away 
behind  the  hills.  You  hear  the  whish  of  a 
scythe  ;  a  man  is  mowing  the  aftermath  in  an 
old  orchard.  Yonder  you  see  the  dust  raised 
by  an  ox-team  coming  up  from  the  salt  mead- 
ows with  a  load  of  hay.  A  traveler  rarely 
passes  along  the  highway,  save  the  baker  from 
Sippican  village,  an  oysterman,  or  a  butcher 
driving  a  tidy  white-covered  wagon  from  Ware- 
ham  Narrows,  or  itinerant  merchants  in  lad- 
ders, fruit-trees,  and  tin  wares,  from  the  inte- 
rior of  the  State.  Occasionally  a  sunburnt 
doctor  flits  by  in  a  one-horse  shay,  carrying 
an  apothecary's  shop  in  a  little  box  at  his 
feet.  But  none  of  these  disturb  the  universal 
repose. 

All  around  are  pine  and  oak  woods.  In 
many  places  and  at  diverse  times  the  woods 
have  been  cut  down  and  have  again  grown 
up,  occupying  fields  where  stone  walls  now 
testify  that  within  their  leafy  enclosures  corn 
and  grass  formerly  grew,  and  where  a  few 
scraggy  apple-trees  and  the  weedy  ruins  of  a 


22    COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

cellar-wall  show  that  an  old  home  has  disap- 
peared. The  present  occupants  of  the  farms 
yet  unreclaimed  by  the  forest  are  making  a 
hard  struggle  to  draw  their  living  out  of  the 
exhausted  land,  which  they  till  as  it  was  tilled 
in  colonial  times,  when  the  soil  was  more  fer- 
tile and  the  seasons  more  propitious  than  now. 

The  earliest  authentic  memorial  of  this  re- 
gion is  to  be  found  in  the  Plymouth  Colony 
Records  of  the  year  1639  J  when  a  "  graunt 
of  a  plantacion  called  Seppekann  "  was  made 
to  John  Lothrop,  a  non-conformist  minister, 
who,  to  escape  persecution  by  Archbishop 
Laud,  had  fled  from  London  to  New  England 
with  a  part  of  his  congregation.  The  grant 
was  not  accepted ;  the  minister  and  his  con- 
gregation having  been  induced  to  settle  near 
the  great  marshes  of  Barnstable  ;  where,  like 
true  Presbyterians,  they  observed  days  of 
thanksgiving  "  for  the  Lord's  admirable  pow- 
erfull  working  for  Old  England"  by  Oliver 
Cromwell. 

After  the  desolating  war  with  King  Philip 
was  ended,  all  the  lands  on  the  western  shore 
of  the  bay  were  purchased  by  a  company 
which  comprised  many  of  the  principal  men 
in  Plymouth  Colony.     As  some  of  these  were 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  2$ 

of  Kentish  descent,  the  purchased  territory 
became  known  as  the  Rochester  Propriety. 
It  was  esteemed  valuable  for  its  fisheries,  its 
pine  woodlands,  its  cedar  and  spruce  swamps, 
and  especially  for  its  great  necks  extending 
into  the  bay,  containing  rich  meadows  which 
had  been  used  by  the  English  "to  winter 
cattle  upon,"  when  the  limited  pasturage  on 
the  Plymouth  shore  became  insufficient  for 
the  increase  of  their  herds  and  flocks.  North 
of  it  was  a  wilderness  encompassing  the  thinly 
settled  township  of  Middleborough,  known  by 
the  Indian  name  Nemassaket ;  west  of  it  was 
a  forest  covering  the  Quaker  township  of 
Dartmouth,  through  which  went  the  path  to 
Rhode  Island ;  south  of  it  was  the  sea,  and 
eastward  was  the  Agawame  Plantation, 

The  purchasers  went  to  work  to  turn  their 
property  to  a  good  account.  On  March  lo, 
1679,  they  met  "  at  Joseph  Burgs  his  house 
at  Sandwitch,"  and  "  Ordred  that  mr  Thomas 
Hinctly  mr  william  Paybody  Joseph  warrain 
Samuel  white  and  Joseph  Lothrop  shall  take 
a  vew  of  the  Lands  of  Scippican  and  determin 
wher  the  house  Lots  shall  be  Layed  out  and 
if  the  Land  will  Beare  it  to  Lay  40  ackors  to 
a  house  Lot  and  to  have  for  thair  paines  2s 


24   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

6d  a  day  a  peece  in  mony  —  and  Samuel 
white  to  stay  ther  with  mr  Pay  body  to  help 
Lay  out  the  Lands  and  Joseph  Doty  to  goe 
ther  to  help  them  and  to  have  2s  p  day  a 
peece  in  mony."  Then  to  attract  emigration 
they  declared  that  those  "  that  first  settell  and 
are  Livers  "  there  shall  be  allowed  to  make  on 
the  commons  "  ten  Barrells  of  tarr  a  peece 
for  a  yeare,"  for  their  own  use ;  and  that 
one  man's  barrel  should  not  be  larger  than 
another's,  it  was  distinctly  stated  that  the 
free  tar  measure  is  to  be  "  such  as  are  com- 
only  called  small  Barrells."  Lest  purchasers 
who  did  not  emigrate  to  the  new  lands  should 
claim  the  privilege  of  making  tar  which,  at 
that  time  and  until  after  the  Revolution,  was 
a  valuable  article  of  commerce,  it  was  "  furder 
ordred  that  ther  shall  be  none  of  the  said 
purchasers  alowed  to  Burne  or  make  any 
Tarre  of  the  pine  knots  or  wood  that  is 
within  the  Limmits  "  for  five  years,  "  upon 
the  penalty  of  five  pound  for  every  default." 
The  value  of  the  great  forests  for  other  prod- 
ucts was  recognized  by  an  order  "  that  ther 
shall  be  no  Tymber  of  any  sort  convaied  or 
carryed  a  way  out  of  the  Lymits  of  Scippican 
under  the  penilltie  of  twentie  Shilings  for 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  2$ 

every  Tree  or  part  of  a  tree  so  used  and  sent 
or  carried  away." 

The  first  necessities  of  the  new  settlers 
were  a  grist-mill  and  a  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel ;  for  a  law  of  the  Colony  declared  "  that 
noe  pson  be  admited  to  goe  to  Inhabite  upon 
any  such  lands  that  lye  soe  remote  as  the 
Inhabitants  thereof  can  not  ordinaryly  fre- 
quent any  place  of  publicke  worship."  There- 
fore, when,  in  April,  1680,  the  purchasers 
drew  lots  for  homesteads  and  meadows,  they 
appropriated  "  the  first  and  second  house  lots 
with  the  twentie  Ackar  Lots  that  are  enpled 
to  them  in  the  great  Neke,"  and  two  lots  in 
the  best  of  the  woodland,  "  for  the  minister 
and  for  the  ministrie."  Three  years  later 
two  of  the  company  were  chosen  to  hunt  for 
"som  meet  person  to  preach  the  word  of 
god  to  them  at  Scippican  and  to  procure  him 
if  they  can ; "  and  also  to  treat  with  some  per- 
sons to  build  a  mill.  Soon  after  this  the  rec- 
ords refer  to  a  grist-mill  about  to  be  built  '*'  of 
such  a  capassitie  as  Shee  may  grind  the  come 
of  the  Inhabitants  for  the  space  of  twentie 
years ; "  and  also  to  "  the  house  or  frame 
that  is  got  up "  for  Mr.  Samuel  Shiverick, 
whom  the  proprietors  agreed  to  pay  at  the 


26  COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

rate  of  five  shillings  a  share  "for  his  paines 
in  preaching."  The  next  year  they  ordered 
"those  that  are  setled  Inhabitance"  to  pay 
him  yearly  ten  shillings  "  in  mony  a  peece 
during  the  time  he  shall  preach  the  word  of 
god." 

Tradition  points  to  Minister  Rock,  a  huge 
boulder  near  the  head  of  Sippican  harbor,  as 
the  place  where  the  pioneers  first  met  for 
public  worship :  — 

"  On  Minister  Rock  they  stood,  and  as  they  gazed 

Upon  the  white-caps  sailing  out  to  sea, 
Their  prayerful  souls  to  heaven  devoutly  raised. 

They  praised  the  Lord  for  christian  liberty. 
And  as  they  sang  '  The  hill  of  Zion  yields ' 

To  contrite  souls  '  A  thousand  sacred  sweets ; ' 
The  fragrant  marshes  seemed  like  '  heavenly  fields,* 

The  yellow  sedges  glowed  like  *  golden  streets.' 

"  The  wandering  wind  had  healing  in  its  breath. 

Distilled  from  cedar,  pine,  and  spicy  birch ; 
The  sea  had  saving  salt ;  nor  second  death 

Itself  could  fright  a  member  of  the  church. 
In  ages  past  the  servants  of  the  Lord 

Were  glad  to  seek  the  shadow  of  a  rock ; 
Here  was  the  ponderous  substance,  to  reward 

These  scions  of  a  puritanic  stock." 

Not  long  afterwards  a  few  of  these  thrifty 
Englishmen,  attracted  by  the  streams,  fish- 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  27 

eries,  and  meadows  of  the  easterly  part  of 
the  territory,  planted  their  homesteads  nearer 
to  Fearing  Hill  and  the  picturesque  banks  of 
the  Weweantet. 

Meanwhile  the  title  to  the  lands,  which  the 
company  held  "  acording  to  the  deed  granted 
by  the  Court,"  was  disputed  by  some  of  the 
Indian  sachems.  These  were  Charles,  who 
claimed  a  neck  of  land  which  still  bears  his 
name,  Manomet  Peter,  and  Will  Connet,  as 
they  were  called  by  the  English.  The  claims 
were  bought,  except  that  of  Will  Connet,  who, 
claiming  to  be  lord  paramount  of  all  the  ter- 
ritory bordering  on  the  Weweantet  and  Woon- 
kinco  rivers  to  "  Plymouthes  westerly  tree  at 
Agawaame,"  did  "  disclaime  and  defie  the 
title  of  every  these  men  called  the  purchasers 
of  Sepecan."  In  1682  the  purchasers  prose- 
cuted a  suit  to  dispossess  him  ;  but  they  were 
glad  to  settle  it  by  paying  a  pound  sterling,  a 
trucking  cloth  coat  valued  at  ten  shillings, 
and  by  making  him  a  member  of  their  com- 
pany. His  name  was  then  written  upon  the 
roll  of  shareholders  —  "  Substanciall  men  that 
are  prudent  psons  and  of  considerable  es- 
tates," as  the  Plymouth  Court  had  described 
them ;  and  when  they  were  taxing  themselves 


28      COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  V. 

"ten  shillings  a  peece  in  silver  mony"  to 
meet  their  contract  for  building  the  grist-mill, 
it  was  recorded  that  "Will  Connet  promised 
for  him  self  and  his  brother  John  to  give  six 
barrells  of  tarr  to  wards  sd  mill." 

In  1686  the  lands  of  Sippican  were  incor- 
porated, and  became  "  Rochester  Towne  in 
new  England ; "  but  the  management  of  affairs 
remained  with  the  proprietors,  who  continued 
to  carry  on  the  general  government  of  the 
town  in  entire  separation  from  the  body  of 
the  inhabitants. 

Their  supreme  authority  was  used  in  vari- 
ous ways.  To  prevent  the  exportation  of 
lumber  they  met,  in  1687,  "at  Elder  Chap- 
mans  house  in  Sandwitch,"  and  "  Ordred 
that  all  Timber  Bourds  Bolts  Shinales  Cla- 
boude  Cooper  Stuf  or  shuch  like  that  is 
brought  to  the  water  side  or  any  Landing 
place  where  it  may  be  Judged  that  it  will 
be  transported  out  of  the  Township  shall  be 
forfited  the  one  half  there  of  to  the  Inter- 
men  and  the  other  halfe  there  of  to  the 
Townes  use."  They  also  ordered  that  "no 
Person  what  so  ever  should  gett  timber  upon 
the  undivided  Lands  for  Posts  Rails  or  house 
frames  except  the  timber  so  gotten  be  used 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  29 

within  the  township."  They  made  laws  for- 
bidding strange  Indians  "to  hunt  or  catch 
deer"  within  the  town,  and  forbidding  the 
inhabitants  "to  imploy  anny  such  indian  in 
hunting."  They  made  a  decree  to  prohibit 
every  person  from  cutting  "  cedar  spruce  or 
pine  except  he  fairly  demonstrate  that  he 
stands  in  need  of  it."  They  gave  to  their 
associates  liberty  "to  sett  up  a  grist  mill 
upon  the  River  called  mattapoicitt,"  and 
"to  sett  up  a  mil  for  Iron  works  whear  it 
may  be  secur  from  hurting  people  by  cuting 
choyce  timber  or  fire  wood."  In  1698  they 
fixed  a  boundary  line  with  Plymouth ;  in 
1701  they  ordered  "Samuel  Prince  Lieut 
John  Hammond  and  Aron  Barlow  to  setle 
bounds  an  run  the  Line  "  with  Dartmouth ; 
in  1702  they  had  a  controversy  with  "the 
Lathrops  of  barnstable  and  the  tomsons  of 
midleberry  whear  the  bounds  shall  stand  be- 
tween them  and  the  Proprietors  of  roches- 
ter."  In  1706  they  fixed  a  tax  upon  "what 
tar  hath  bin  gotten  or  shall  hear  after  be 
gotten  by  the  inhabitance  of  rochester" 
from  their  lands,  "  those  yt  git  it  shall  pay 
eight  pence  for  every  full  gaged  barell  they 
git  into  the  dark  of  the  propriety."    In  1708 


30   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

they  ordered  a  fine  of  five  pounds  to  be  paid 
by  every  "  English  or  Indian  or  others  who 
shall  set  on  fire  the  woods  in  anny  part  of 
the  Township  and  neglect  to  put  it  out  be- 
fore they  depart  the  Spott  whear  the  sd  fire 
was  made."  They  ordered  that  undivided 
lands  in  "all  the  four  necks  shall  remaine 
after  the  manner  of  a  common  field ; "  they 
appropriated  lands  for  highways,  and  "to 
make  a  training  field  and  for  a  burling  place 
and  to  sett  a  meeting  hous  upon  for  the 
benifit  of  the  Town  in  Genarall." 

Other  matters  fell  to  the  tOAvn  meeting, 
where  orders  were  generally  conditioned 
"with  the  consent  of  the  proprietors,"  whose 
prerogative  appears  to  have  been  regarded 
like  that  of  the  King.  The  town  meeting 
dealt  with  wolves,  wildcats,  and  foxes,  mak- 
ing havoc  of  the  farmers'  sheep,  and  with 
crows,  blackbirds,  robins,  and  squirrels,  de- 
vastating planted  fields.  Forty  shillings  were 
paid  in  1699  "for  killing  of  two  grown 
woulves  in  our  town ; "  at  the  same  time  it 
was  made  obligatory  upon  every  inhabitant 
to  bring  "unto  Peter  Blackmer  the  town 
dark,"  annually,  the  heads  of  four  crows 
and  the  heads  of  twelve  blackbirds  killed  by 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  3 1 

the  bringer,  before  the  last  day  of  May. 
But  it  was  voted  "  that  whosoever  shall  kill 
either  squerels,  Red  birds  or  jay  birds  & 
bring  12  of  their  heads  to  the  town  clark 
they  shall  be  exsepted  and  entered  in  the 
Room  of  black  birds  &  crows."  So  numer- 
ous were  these  farm  pests  that  the  town  was 
compelled  to  enforce  their  destruction  by  a 
fine  of  two  shillings  levied  upon  "  every  man 
in  Rochester  of  21  years  old  and  upward" 
who  did  not  kill  his  yearly  quota,  and  "  cary 
the  heads  of  the  birds  or  squarils  so  killed  to 
the  man  that  is  to  take  a  Count  of  ye  wild 
cats."  There  was  always  a  bounty  to  be 
paid  for  wildcats  and  foxes  killed  in  the  town, 
if  the  head  of  the  beast  was  brought  to  "  one 
of  the  selectmen  with  both  thire  eares  on  to 
be  cut  off."i 

Dogs,  kept  by  farmers   to   protect  their 

1  "a  Count  of  wild  cats  and  foxes  killed  in  the  year 
1722  capt  Holmes  &  family  killed  eleven  foxes  James 
Stuart  fouer  wild  cats  Timothy  Stephens  i  cat  caleb  cow- 
ing I  cat  Anthony  cumbs  i  cat  moses  Barlow  i  fox  John 
Wing  I  cat  John  Briggs  i  fox  Jabez  Hillard  2  foxes  Ben- 
jamin hammond  2  foxes  i  wild  cat  Seth  hammond  i  wild 
cat  Benj  Dexter  Junr  &  James  Hammond  i  cat  Jonathan 
Hammond  Junr  i  fox  Thomas  Turner  i  fox  Benjamin  Dex- 
ter I  fox  David  Joseph  i  fox."  —  Rochester  Town  Records. 


32    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

sheep  from  wild  beasts,  were  also  a  pest,  for 
they  persisted  in  uprooting  the  early  corn. 
With  each  return  of  spring,  alewives  came  up 
Mattapoiset  River  from  the  sea  and  entered 
Sniptuit  pond,  where  they  were  taken  by 
Anthony  Comes,  who  was  "chosen  to  tend 
the  Herring  ware  carefully  and  dilligently," 
and  were  dealt  out  to  each  inhabitant  that 
came  for  them  "  for  a  peck  of  corne  or  6d  in 
money  for  each  looo."  When  cornfields 
were  planted  alewives  were  put  into  the  hills, 
and  the  hungry  dogs,  getting  nothing  to  eat 
at  home,  pawed  open  the  hills  and  ate  the 
fish.  This  made  business  for  the  "town 
meet"  of  May,  1703,  when,  as  the  records 
say,  "  it  was  taken  into  consideration  the 
great  dam  that  this  town  hath  in  time  passed 
suffered  by  dogs  going  at  Liberty  when  ale- 
wives are  planted  in  cornfields  with  Indien 
corn ; "  and  then  it  was  ordered  that  every 
"  dog  Bitch  or  dog  kind "  shall  be  annually 
fettered  on  the  20th  of  April  for  forty  days 
by  "  haveing  one  of  theire  fore  feet  fastened 
up  to  their  neck  so  as  to  prevent  their  dig- 
ging up  of  fish  so  planted." 

But  neither  wolves,  dogs,  crows,  nor  ale- 
wives distracted  the  thoughts  of  the  people 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  33 

from  a  meeting-house  to  be  **  sit  on  the  west- 
erly Sid  of  the  long  bridg ; "  and  they  "  did 
agree  to  pay  for  the  meeting-house  which 
was  to  be  builded  by  a  free  will  offering  "  of 
fifty  pounds.  It  was  a  square  building  of 
four  gables,  finished  in  1699,  and  is  described 
as  having  "  a  pulpit  and  flours  and  Seats  & 
girts  for  3  galerys  with  3  Seats  apew  and 
windows  as  the  undertakers  Shall  see  con- 
venient." In  1 714  it  was  declared  to  be  too 
small  for  the  congregation,  and  it  was  then 
enlarged  by  "an  addition  made  to  ye  back- 
side." Seats  were  built  "nye  the  pulpit  stairs 
for  Antiant  parsons  to  sett  in."  Rights  to 
build  pews  in  the  enlarged  house  were  sold 
"at  vandue  to  those  that  would  give  most 
for  them  and  buld  sd  pues  in  three  month 
and  pay  in  mony  for  them  in  Six  months ; " 
it  being  understood  that  *'  the  pues  be  al  of  a 
haith  and  bult  work  men  like."  The  allotted 
spots  for  pews  were  gradually  occupied,  and 
then  permission  was  given  to  certain  per- 
sons to  build  pews,  "on  the  beams  over  the 
galeries,"  and  upon  other  lofty  perches  above 
the  heads  of  the  congregation,  "provided 
they  do  it  decently,"  and  "  on  their  own  cost." 
One  of  these  lofty-pew  builders  was  Timothy 


34     COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

Ruggles,  junior.  He  had  just  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  and  had  returned  to  his 
native  town  to  begin  the  practice  of  law, 
when  he  obtained  permission  to  build  the 
pew  whose  commanding  position  on  the 
beams  of  the  meeting-house  was  typical  of 
his  position  in  subsequent  years  as  one  of 
the  most  prominent  citizens  of  New  Eng- 
land, in  civil  and  military  affairs. 

The  natural  parsimony  of  the  people  which 
led  them  to  prefer  to  patch  out  the  old  meet- 
ing-house rather  than  spend  money  for  a  new 
one  was  again  shown  in  December,  I730> 
when  the  shabby  condition  of  its  windows 
was  making  the  cold  house  colder ;  and  it 
was  voted  "  to  mend  the  Glass  that  is  Least 
broken  and  where  the  Glass  is  Quite  Gone 
to  nail  up  bords  in  Lue  thereof  for  ye 
preasant." 

The  first  minister  in  this  meeting-house 
was  Samuel  Arnold,  who  had  begun  to  preach 
to  the  town  in  1690,  and  to  whom,  in  1697, 
the  proprietors  of  the  lands  gave  a  "  whole 
shear  of  upland  and  meadow  ground,"  upon 
condition  "that  he  continueth  in  the  work 
of  the  ministry  among  them  till  prevented 
by  death."     After  continuing  in  this  work 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  35 

for  thirteen  years  he  organized  a  church,  and 
recorded  the  fact  in  these  pious  words  :  "  It 
hath  pleased  our  gracious  God  to  shine  in 
this  dark  corner  of  this  wilderness  and  visit 
this  dark  spot  of  ground  with  the  dayspring 
from  on  high,  through  his  tender  mercy  to 
settle  a  church  according  to  the  order  of  the 
Gospel  October  13,  a.  d.  1703." 

As  some  townsmen,  who  were  not  of  the 
prevailing  religious  faith,  protested  against 
paying  the  ministry  taxes,  a  town  meeting  of 
1709  was  charitable  enough  "to  abate  the 
sum  of  ten  pounds  upon  such  inhabitance  as 
are  of  contrery  judgement  &  now  professed 
Quakers."  Then  they  raised  forty  pounds 
"for  the  incoragement  &  soport  of  a  min- 
ister;" and,  mr  Arnold  being  dead,  they 
"  made  choice  of  mr  Timothy  Ruggles,"  in 
1 7 10,  to  be  their  minister,  to  be  by  them 
"  Treated  with  &  duly  incoraged  in  order  to 
a  Settlement."  He  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,  and  a  great-grandson  of  Thomas 
Dudley,  the  second  governor  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  He  was  "incoraged" 
to  settle  by  a  salary  of  thirty  pounds,  a 
gift  of  seventy  acres  of  land  for  a  farm,  the 
use  of  the  glebe,  or,  as  it  was  designated  in 


36    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  V. 

the  records,  the  "  uplands  medows  &  ceadder 
&  spruce  swamps  of  the  ministreys  shear," 
by  building  for  him  a  house  —  "  the  sd  mr 
Ruggles  finding  and  providing  all  the  nails 
&  glasse,"  and  by  boarding  him  "  at  Roger 
Hascols  "  until  the  house  was  done.  He  con- 
tinued to  be  the  town-minister  for  fifty-eight 
years,  or  "  till  prevented  by  death."  ^ 

1  The  following  letter  from  the  Rev.  Timothy  Ruggles, 
addressed  to  the  Rev.  John  Rowland,  of  Plympton,  is  pre- 
served among  the  papers  of  the  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles  in  the 
library  of  Yale  College :  "  Revd.  Sir,  In  answer  to  yours 
of  the  30th  of  Aug.  last  I  would  say  I  am  not  able  to  say 
anything  as  to  any  uneasiness  of  the  Neighbour  ministers 
with  Relation  to  the  settlement  of  The  Revd  Mr  Sam! 
Arnold  &c.  This  I  find  by  the  Church  Records  he  left 
now  in  my  hand  that  he  lived  Thirteen  years  in  the  work 
of  the  ministry  before  his  ordination  in  Rochester  &  as  I 
well  Remember  the  only  Reason  of  that  was  for  want  of 
members  to  Imbody.  I  find  by  sd  Records  he  was  or- 
dained 13th  of  October,  1703:  &  there  was  seven  members 
beside  himself  Imbodied  at  his  ordination  and  he  was  in 
the  56  year  of  his  age  and  he  dyed  in  the  year  1708,  I 
remember  I  often  heard  the  antientest  people  &  brightest 
Christians  say  that  they  had  one  Mr  Shievereck,  a  lay 
preacher,  with  them  before  Mr  Arnold  who  was  in  their 
opinion  not  comparable  with  Mr  Arnold,  who  after  settled 
at  Falmouth.  Mr  Arnold,  by  all  I  could  learn  by  the 
brightest  Christians  here  at  my  first  coming,  was  an  Emi- 
nent Christian  who  walked  close  with  God.  His  Father 
was  a  minister  &  gave  him  a  good  Education,  who  had  only 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  37 

The  proprietors  also  left  the  school,  the 
highways,  and  the  poor  to  the  care  of  town 
meeting,  which  in  1706  chose  "mrs  jane 
mashell  for  to  teach  childered  &  youth  to 
Reed  &  to  writte  ; "  for  "her  panes  "  she  was 
"to  have  her  dyet  and  to  receive  twelve 
pounds."  She  kept  her  school  in  different 
places  between  Mattapoiset  Neck  and  Woon- 
kinco  River.  For  two  or  three  years  she 
was  the  chosen  teacher ;  but  doubts  arose 
about  the  soberness  of  her  conversation  and 
it  is  recorded  that  three  ungallant  men, 
"Joseph  Benson  John  dexter  &  ichabod  burg 
requested  to  have  theire  protest  entered  for 
that  they  accounted  she  was  not  as  the  law 
directs." 

In  1 71 2,  John  Myers  "  was  made  choice  of 
to  sarve  in  the  office  of  a  Skoll  master,"  and 
it  was  voted  "to  raise  twelve  pounds  in 
money  to  pay  him  for  his  pains  in  keeping  of 

a  private  Education  himself.  I  have  often  heard  from 
some  of  the  Neighbouring  Ministers  who  survived  him 
that  they  esteemed  him  as  a  worthy  minister  &  approved 
him  as  a  good  Divine  but  not  so  well  skilled  in  Church 
Discipline  as  some  others.  Sir,  with  sutable  compliments 
to  yourself  &  Madam  I  rest  yours  to  serve, 

"  TiMO.   RUGGLES. 

"  Roch.  8,  Sept.  1764." 


38    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

Skool  to  teach  children  &  youth  to  Read  & 
write  &  to  have  his  dyet  provided  for  him." 
His  school  was  to  be  kept  at  five  places  in 
the  town  during  the  year,  "  first  at  White 
Hall  then  at  the  centre  3^y  at  mattapoisit  4'y 
at  the  fresh  meadows  and  5^y  at  Sepecan," 
The  distance  between  the  third  and  fourth 
places  was  about  ten  miles  by  the  country 
road.  After  him  there  were  years  when  no 
school  was  kept,  for  a  teacher  was  not  to  be 
had ;  and,  in  1 720,  the  town  having  been 
presented  by  the  grand  jury  of  the  county 
for  "not  being  provided  with  a  Scoolmas- 
ter,"  paid  "  Capt  Winslow  twenty  shillings 
for  Answaring  the  Towns  presentment." 
When  in  1732  Benjamin  Delano  undertook 
to  keep  the  town  school  in  five  places  dur- 
ing the  year,  his  compensation  was  thirty 
pounds  with  "  Dyat  washing  &  Lodging  & 
hors  to  Ride."  As  pounds  were  then  of 
small  value  in  silver  money  his  principal  re- 
ward was  his  board  and  washing  and  the  use 
of  the  horse  that  carried  him  to  his  work. 

The  northeasterly  boundary  of  Roches- 
tertown  was  then  an  imaginary  line  in 
the  woods  crossing  the  Woonkinco  River. 
Thereabout  were  natural  fresh  meadows,  and 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  39 

on  the  river  a  grist-mill,  and  a  mill  pond,  the 
same  that  now,  with  its  wooded  banks  and 
shaded  coves,  forms  an  attractive  picture  in 
the  centre  village  of  Wareham.^  Near  the 
mill  stood  a  cluster  of  dwelling-houses  known, 
from  the  meadows,  as  the  Fresh -meadow 
Village.  It  was  one  of  the  stations  of  the 
town's  migratory  school ;  and  a  town  meet- 
ing of  1722  specified  it  as  one  of  the  five 
villages  in  which  notice  of  the  arrest  of 
"  A  Ram  or  Rames  in  Rochester  Running  at 
Larg  "  must  be  posted  :  — 

*'  if  in  the  village  called  the  center  at  the  hous 
of  John  Clapp 

&  if  in  the  villeg  called  Sepycan  at  the  hous  of 
John  Briggs 

^  The  celebrated  Peter  Oliver,  the  last  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  in  1746  an  owner 
of  this  mill  pond.  He  settled  at  Middleborough  in  1744, 
and  for  thirty  years  carried  on  a  successful  business  as  an 
iron  founder,  living  in  ostentatious  style  in  a  sightly  man- 
sion known  as  Oliver  Hall.  In  1774  he  was  impeached 
"  for  receiving  his  salary  from  the  king."  Departing  with 
other  loyalists  for  Old  England,  he  wrote  in  his  diary: 
"Boston,  1776,  March  27,  Here  I  took  my  leave  of  that 
once  happy  country,  where  peace  and  plenty  reigned  un- 
controuled,  till  that  infernal  Hydra  Rebellion,  with  its  hun- 
dred Heads,  had  devoured  its  happiness,  spread  desolation 
over  its  fertile  fields,  and  ravaged  the  peaceful!  mansions 
of  its  inhabitants." 


40   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

And  if  in  the  village  called  Sneptuet  at  the 
hous  of  Capt  Edward  Winslow 

&  if  in  the  fresh  meadow  village  &  Weweantet 
at  Isaac  Bumpus  his  mill 

&  if  at  Mattapoyset  village  at  the  house  of 
John  Hammond  " 

As  these  people  were  born  into  a  life  of 
frugal  habits,  and  had  learned  to  know  the 
large  value  of  small  things,  they  could  not 
sink  into  abject  poverty.  Their  wants  were 
supplied  by  their  daily  labors,  and  by  the 
voyages  of  their  sloops  to  the  islands  of  the 
West  Indies,  to  which  they  sent  tar,  rosin, 
and  turpentine,  to  be  exchanged  for  rum, 
sugar,  and  molasses.  The  only  allusion  to  a 
pauper  during  the  period  with  which  this 
narrative  has  to  do  is  in  the  town  records  of 
1 72 1,  when  it  was  voted,  in  regard  to  an  un- 
fortunate neighbor,  that  "  Eleven  pounds  be 
paid  in  money  to  any  man  that  will  take  and 
keep  "  him  a  year,  and  find  him  "  vettuals  & 
close  sutable  unless  the  Court  Determines 
him  to  be  maintained  by  his  Relations." 

One  December  day  in  1729  the  selectmen 
summoned  the  householders  of  the  town  "  In 
his  Maj^*s  name  to  assemble  and  meet  to 
Geather  att  ye  Meeting  house "  to  consider 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  4 1 

a  work  of  charity.  It  was  announced  that 
some  townspeople  needed  aid,  and  "espe- 
cially ye  family  of  Benjamin  Burges  De- 
ceased who  are  in  Great  want  at  preasant." 
Then  they  who  had  been  too  parsimonious 
to  give  anything  for  the  building  of  a  new 
meetinghouse  when  it  was  said  to  be  needed, 
opened  their  cellars  and  handed  out  corn 
and  wheat  by  the  peck  and  half  bushel,  beef 
and  pork  and  butter  by  the  pound,  molasses 
by  the  gallon  ;  all  which  were  entrusted  to 
"  Sam  Look  to  Deliver  ye  same  to  the  use 
of  sd  family  as  they  shall  stand  in  need." 

The  people  were  generally  prosperous  in 
their  affairs.  They  had  a  small  commerce 
by  sea  as  early  as  1697,  when  "  the  Townes 
gennarall  Landing  place"  was  established  on 
the  northerly  side  of  Sippican  harbor. ^  A 
wharf  was  built  at  the  harbor  in  1708,  and 
for  its  maintenance  a  tax  of  "  one  shilling  in 
money  for  every  boats  load  of  whet  saeder 

^  "  Whear  as  Samuel  briggs  hath  alowed  a  cart  way 
through  his  Lands  down  to  the  Townes  gennarall  Landing 
place  on  the  northerly  side  of  the  harber  in  case  sd  bridggs 
Receave  damage  by  anny  Cart  or  parson  either  by  break- 
ing or  Leaving  open  sd  briggs  his  Gattes  or  Railes  he  or 
they  shall  surly  pay  the  whol  damage  that  doth  accrew  to 
sd  briggs  thereby."  —  Rochester  Town  Records,  1697. 


42    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

brought  on  or  carried  of,"  was  decreed. 
The  freeholders  of  the  town  were  wealthy 
enough  as  early  as  1 714  to  send  Samuel 
Prince  as  their  representative  to  the  Great 
and  General  Court  at  Boston,  and  after  him 
Thomas  Dexter,  paying  them  five  shillings 
a  day  and  their  expenses.  As  long  as  the 
royal  government  lasted  they  continued  to 
send  representatives,  one  of  whom  was  the 
famous  Timothy  Ruggles,  son  of  the  town 
minister,  a  man  of  lordly  address,  strict  in- 
tegrity, high  talents,  and  strong  convictions, 
always  loyal  to  the  King,  even  when  loyalty 
caused  him  to  lose  his  property  and  his 
country.^ 

In  1734  the  inhabitants  of  Mattapoiset 
Village,  having  complained  that  they  were 
so  remote  from  the  centre  of  the  town  as 
*'  to  make  their  Difficulty  Great  in  all  publick 
Conserns,"  were  allowed  to  become  a  pre- 
cinct, by  which  they  were  entitled  to  a  min- 
ister, a  parish,  and  a  meeting-house  of  their 
own ;  while  they  continued  to  be  a  part  of 

1  In  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  Revolution  he 
was  leader  of  the  King's  party  in  the  legislature.  He  em- 
barked from  Boston  with  the  King's  troops  in  1775,  and 
made  his  home  near  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he 
died,  an  exile,  in  1795. 


THE  LANDS  OF  SIPPICAN.  43 

the  town.  In  the  same  year,  on  the  petition 
of  "  sundry  Bumpases,"  Rochester  consented 
to  set  off  its  east  end  to  be  joined  to  the 
Agawame  Plantation,  in  the  composition  of  a 
new  town,  by  a  boundary  described  as  "  be- 
ginning at  the  mouth  of  Sepecan  River  & 
Running  up  the  River  to  mendalls  Bridge 
Thence  as  ye  Rhode  now  Lieth  to  plymouth 
till  it  meets  with  middleborough  line." 

This  road  still  "  lieth  to  Plymouth  "  as  of 
yore.  As  the  traveler  worries  his  horse 
through  its  wheel-deep  sands,  a  covey  of 
partridges  breaks  out  of  the  berry  bushes  at 
the  roadside,  a  hare  or  a  gray  squirrel  scam- 
pers across  the  ruts,  the  pale  blossoms  of  a 
clump  of  house-leeks  tell  the  place  where  a 
hearthstone  once  stood,  and  he  may  see  at 
intervals  in  the  openings  of  the  forest  granite 
posts  marked  with  an  R  and  a  W,  defining 
the  exact  line  between  the  old  town  and  the 
new. 


II. 

THE  AGAWAME  PLANTATION. 

PJOINING  the  east  end  of  Roches- 
ter was  the  Agawame  Plantation  of 
about  eight  thousand  acres.  Its  early 
history  has  been  preserved  in  an  old  Booke, 
whose  yellow  leaves  of  English  paper,  water- 
marked with  crown  and  fleur-de-lis,  are  writ- 
ten in  quaint  characters  difficult  for  an  un- 
trained eye  to  read. 

The  territory  is  mentioned  in  the  early 
records  of  Plymouth  Colony  as  a  discovery  : 
"the  South  Meddowes  towards  Aggawam 
lately  discovered  and  the  convenyent  uplands 
there  abouts."  The  colony  bought  it  from 
Indians  —  "  natives  of  New  England  "  they 
were  called,  and  in  1682  sold  it  to  six  English- 
men for  two  hundred  and  eighty  pounds, 
current  money,  to  obtain  the  means  of  build- 
ing a  meeting-house  in  Plymouth  town.  It 
was  more  attractive  than  the  colder  lands  on 
Plymouth  shore,  where  "  divers  corne  fields 


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46    COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

and  little  running  brookes,"  seen  under  a 
December  sky,  had  invited  the  Mayflower 
pilgrims  to  stay.  It  contained  many  springs 
of  sweet  water,  and  small  lakes  on  whose 
shores  beaver  and  otter  were  trapped.  In 
the  vast  forest  which  covered  the  uplands 
deer  were  hunted  and  streams  ran  abounding 
in  trout.  It  had  rich  salt  meadows  which 
were  intersected  by  creeks  whose  marshy 
banks  were  a  resort  of  curlew  and  plover,  and 
there  was  abundance  of  bird  life  along  the 
shores  when  the  mud  slopes  were  left  bare  by 
the  ebbing  tide.  It  lay  at  the  head  of  the 
bay,  whose  waters  washed  it  on  three  sides, 
and  its  coast  line  is  still  indented  by  coves 
rich  in  shellfish,  is  fringed  by  islands  and 
sandy  beaches,  and  fronts  the  slumbering  sea 
by  a  long  ridge  of  highland  from  which  the 
eye  ranges  southward  as  far  as  the  Elizabeth 
Islands,  and  over  as  pleasing  a  panorama  of 
sea  and  shore  as  is  to  be  found  in  New  Eng- 
land. 

The  purchasers,  who  had  divided  their  es- 
tate into  six  shares,  met  and  laid  out  six 
♦•  home  lotts "  of  sixty  acres  each,  "  to  build 
any  hous  or  housen  upon."  They  met  again 
and  laid  out  "  sixe  tracts  of  meadow,"  and  to 


THE  AGAWAME  PLANTATION:  47 

prohibit  the  making  of  tar  in  the  common 
forest,  they  ordered  that  "  not  any  pine  notts 
liing  upon  ye  undevided  lands  should  be 
made  use  of  by  any  man  untill  such  time  as 
ther  was  an  allowance  by  the  said  owners  soe 
to  doe."  Desiring  to  divide  more  uplands 
and  meadows  and  to  lay  out  "convenient 
publike  &  private  high  waies,"  they  appointed 
four  of  their  number  to  carry  on  these  im- 
provements ;  and  when  they  met,  in  1696, 
they  "  declared  thar  selves  contented  and 
satisfid  with  what  was  don  and  there  set  too 
thare  handes  in  the  smal  bucke  where  all 
thes  devisins  ware  first  writen." 

By  this  time  some  dwelling-houses  had 
been  built.  The  records  of  1688  mention 
the  house  of  Joseph  Warren  as  "  now  stand- 
ing thare."  From  him  the  promontory,  near 
to  which  Bostonians  have  built  their  summer 
dwellings,  took  its  name ;  it  is  quaintly  de- 
scribed as  "bounded  by  the  see  esteward 
and  southward  and  norbhward  by  his  own 
medo  on  the  cove."  Other  houses  were  clus- 
tered near  a  secluded  place  where 

"  A  winding  wall  of  mossy  stone, 
Frost-flung  and  broken,  lines 
A  lonesome  acre  thinly  grown 
With  grass  and  wandering  vines," 


48       COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

which,  in  the  records,  is  designated  as  the 
place  where  "  some  persons  have  been  laid 
already  at."  It  was  the  neighborhood  of  the 
early  settlers  ;  they  lived  in  sight  of  the  acre, 
and  within  it  they  were  buried. 

In  1701  the  proprietors,  intending  "to  Laye 
cute  sum  hie  waye  into  the  Neckes  "  on  the 
bay,  looked  into  their  old  Booke  and  found 
that  a  highway  "must  of  neseseti  come  over 
the  southerd  end  of  Samuel  Bate  his  home 
lots  which  was  veri  much  damig "  to  him. 
Therefore  each  gave  him  as  compensation 
"  his  sevrel  rite  in  two  or  three  small  peses  of 
medo,"  —  an  illustration  of  the  equity  with 
which  the  members  of  this  agrarian  commu- 
nity dealt  with  each  other.  In  the  same  year 
two  lots  of  land  and  a  meadow  were  "laid 
oute  two  and  for  the  yuse  of  the  ministre." 
In  171 1  it  is  recorded  that  they  built  "a  good 
and  sufficient  pound."  A  pound-keeper  was 
appointed,  also  two  haywards  to  "  bring  out 
and  impound  such  cretures "  as  were  found 
in  the  commons  without  right  to  be  there, 
for  which  service  they  were  paid  "  what  shall 
be  Judged  Reasonable  more  then  what  ye 
Law  will  give  for  ye  poundage."  The  build- 
ing of  the  pound,  the  most  ancient  of  all 


THE  AGAWAME  PLANTATION.  49 

English  institutions,  is  the  first  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  a  village  community  in 
Agawame.  It  was  needed  before  there  was 
a  schoolhouse,  a  meeting-house,  or  a  town 
organization. 

The  authority  of  the  proprietors  was  still 
supreme  in  the  community.  It  appears  in  a 
law  which  they  made  to  protect  the  produc- 
tion of  turpentine ;  prohibiting  "  ani  parsen 
from  boxing  or  chiping  and  milking  ani  pine 
tre  or  tres  on  the  common  on  the  penelty  of 
payeng  Ten  Shilengs  for  everi  tre,"  of  which 
fine  the  informer  "  shall  have  won  halfe  for 
himselfe  and  the  other  halfe  to  the  proprie- 
ters."  Following  the  custom  of  ancient  Teu- 
tonic farmers  who  felled  wood  in  a  common 
forest  and  grazed  cattle  in  a  common  pasture, 
they  stinted  the  pastures,  restricting  each 
proprietor  to  graze  only  "  thurtitoo  nete  catel 
and  fouer  horses  for  a  sixte  parte,"  or  "  six 
sheepe  instead  of  one  Beast."  They  ap- 
pointed an  officer  to  watch  the  pastures  to 
see  that  they  were  equitably  enjoyed  and  to 
report  if  any  man  sent  in  more  cattle  than 
his  proportion  ;  the  watchman  "  to  have  his 
horse  go  into  ye  Necks  freely  so  long  as 
other  horses  go  in."     Farmers  who  were  not 


50    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

proprietors  were  allowed  pasturage  on  un- 
used rights  if  they  brought  to  the  watchman 
"  a  note  or  token  to  his  sattisfaxion  whose 
Rite  they  come  upon."  In  winter,  when  cat- 
tle and  horses  ran  wild  in  the  necks  along 
the  bay  shore,  the  times  of  turning  in  and 
driving  out  were  fixed.  In  summer  the  pas- 
tures were  stinted  severely,  excluding  all 
cattle  or  reducing  their  number,  that  the  grass 
might  have  a  chance  to  grow.  This  was  an 
inconvenience  to  some  of  the  farmers,  but 
they  had  no  relief.  The  proprietors  of  Aga- 
wame  were  lords  of  the  manor,  and  although 
they  owed  allegiance  to  Plymouth  there  was 
no  one  who  ventured  to  challenge  their  au- 
thority. 

Here  was  the  image  of  a  town  system 
based  upon  the  rights  of  property  in  land. 
Its  superintending  power  was  the  owners  of 
the  land  in  regular  meeting  assembled,  enact- 
ing such  regulations  as  a  major  part  of  them 
saw  fit,  and  appointing  such  officers  as  they 
deemed  to  be  necessary  for  their  purposes. 
In  their  acts  they  were  preparing  for  the 
time  when  their  agrarian  commune  must  be 
expanded  into  a  town  organized  under  the 
laws  of  the  province ;  when  new-comers  as 


THE  AGAWAME  PLANTATION.  5  I 

well  as  old  residents  would  have  an  equal 
right  to  be  heard  in  the  town  meeting. 

After  the  shareholders  had  dedicated  "  one 
acre  for  a  Burying  place,"  and  lands  for  a 
grist-mill,  a  saw-mill,  and  the  fisheries,  they 
ordered  that  the  common  lands  be  laid  out  and 
divided  to  themselves.  Their  numbers  had 
increased  and  their  meetings  were  not  always 
harmonious  ;  there  was  a  minority  whose  in- 
dependent spirit  often  delayed  the  action  of 
the  majority  and  sometimes  caused  to  be 
entered  upon  the  records  a  formal  protest 
against  the  proceedings.  For  example,  it  is 
recorded  that,  at  a  meeting  in  171 2,  "Oliver 
Norris  himself  being  present  did  desire  it 
might  be  Entred  by  ye  Clarke  that  he  did 
protest  agenst  ye  most  of  ye  votes  that 
ware  Past." 

At  each  annual  meeting  they  elected  a 
moderator,  listened  to  the  clerk  as  he  read  the 
records  from  their  old  Booke,  adopted  their 
customary  orders,  refreshed  themselves  at  the 
bar  of  the  inn  and  went  their  ways.  As  years 
passed  by,  and  estates  were  divided  from 
father  to  sons,  their  transactions  decreased  in 
importance,  and  their  business  was  finally  re- 
duced to  re-surveys  of  boundary  lines  —  in 


52      COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

dispute  because  the  old  landmarks  (a  "  whit 
ock  tree,"  or  a  "  stake  with  a  heepe  of  stones 
laide  to  it ")  had  disappeared,  to  the  renting 
of  an  island,  and  to  the  care  of  the  alewives 
which,  with  each  return  of  spring,  entered  the 
Agawame  River.  The  old  Booke  relates  some 
of  their  proceedings  during  this  time,  —  as, 
for  example,  that  in  1763  they  undertook  to 
establish  a  free  school  by  appropriating  for 
that  purpose  two  promissory  notes  which  had 
been  given  for  two  catches  of  fish  in  the 
river,  of  the  value  of  a  few  Spanish  dollars  ; 
that  in  1773  they  undertook  to  increase  the 
alewife  fishery  by  making  a  tide-way  up  Red 
Brook  into  White  Island  Pond.  This  hopeful 
speculation  turned  out  as  profitless  as  the 
South  Sea  Bubble;  but  when  its  thirty  pro- 
moters met  they  were  in  such  jovial  spirits  in 
anticipation  of  the  success  of  their  enterprise, 
that  their  meeting,  at  the  village  inn,  was 
called  in  the  records  a  merry  meeting,  and 
when  their  overflowing  bumpers  had  been 
emptied  they  named  their  new  river  the 
Merry  Meeting  River,  and  voted  "to  carry 
Herring  into  sd  River  to  Breed." 

Often     at    their    annual    meetings    they 
"  Voted  to  vandue  Wickets  Island  for  plant- 


THE  AGAVVAME  PLANTATION.  53 

ing,"  —  an  island  off  the  camp  at  Onset, — 
and  as  late  as  1791,  touched  with  sympathy 
for  the  miserable  relics  of  the  original  owners 
of  their  ancestors'  lands,  they  ordered  their 
treasurer  "  to  pay  out  the  money  to  the  poor 
Ingings  that  he  received  for  the  use  of  the 
island." 

And  so  a  run  of  fish  and  a  little  island  con- 
tinued to  be  their  business  until  they  met  no 
more.  All  their  interests  had  been  absorbed 
by  the  larger  interests  of  the  town.  But  their 
ancient  and  well-thumbed  Booke  of  Records 
remains  as  the  foundation  of  the  titles  by 
which  every  estate  in  that  large  territory  is 
now  held.  It  also  preserves  the  quaint 
names  of  the  old  landmarks  :  —  there  is  **  the 
big  rocke  nigh  ye  gret  salte  poun  which  run- 
neth into  the  Se;"  there  is  "the  broocke 
which  cometh  oute  of  the  willo  swamp ; " 
there  is  "the  plas  wher  the  fenc  of  the  pine 
neke  goieth  into  the  water;"  there  is  "ye 
Long  Look"  down  the  bay,  and  "the  small 
frech  poun  ; "  there  is  the  ford  of  the  river 
called  "the  place  whear  the  horses  com- 
only  goe  over,"  and  "  ye  old  mans  spring," 
and  "ye  sandy  pointe  at  ye  upland," 
and    "the   letel   harber,"   and  "that  island 


54   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

of  flates  bounded  round  with  ye  chanel." 
The  Booke  preserves  the  first  names  of  the 
promontories  jutting  into  Manomet  Bay,  as 
it  was  then  called,  of  the  islands,  the  coves, 
the  creeks,  the  springs,  and  the  many  nooks 
of  meadow  which  stretch  into  the  pine  woods 
from  the  salt  marshes  by  the  shore. 


III. 


COLONIAL  FARMERS. 


HE  largest  landowner  in  the  plantation 
was  Israel  Fearing.  He  kept  a  diary 
of  local  events,  blended  with  some 
carefully  written  accounts,  stating  the  values 
of  all  sorts  of  things  entering  into  the  com- 
merce of  his  times.  It  makes  a  picture  of  the 
farming  life  of  his  neighbors,  framed  in  a 
parchment-bound  volume  on  which  is  inscribed 
"  Israel  Fearing  his  Booke  bought  lanuary  the 
10  day  1722"  —  when  George  the  First  was 
King.  This  antique  book  tells  of  trades  and 
barters,  of  agreements  and  indentures,  of  im- 
pressments into  the  King's  military  service,  of 
marriages  and  trials  by  His  Majesty's  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  whatever  else  concerned  the 
people  living  upon  the  farms.  It  tells  us  that 
these  people  were  shrewd  in  their  bargains, 
honest  in  their  reckonings,  industrious  in 
their  habits,  and  bound  by  a  close  economy 


$6      COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

which  made  them  contented  with  small  sav- 
ings and  small  gains.  The  whole  family  — 
sons,  daughters,  and  indentured  servants,  took 
up  their  daily  work  before  sunrise,  suspended 
it  only  for  their  meals,  and  ended  it  only 
when  the  candles  were  put  out  at  early  bed- 
time. The  women  did  the  housework,  tended 
the  hens,  the  geese,  and  the  calves,  scoured 
the  brass  warming-pans  and  pewter  dishes, 
spun  flax  and  wool  yarns,  and  wove  them  into 
cloths  from  which  the  clothing  and  bedding 
of  the  family  were  made  by  their  own  hands  ; 
and  if  more  was  made  than  was  needed  at 
home,  it  was  bartered  away.  The  purpose  of 
all  was  to  get  out  of  the  farm  every  farthing 
that  it  would  yield,  and  to  squander  nothing. 
These  men  and  women  were  of  pure  Eng- 
lish blood,  of  an  even  social  condition,  de- 
scended from  those  who  had  come  to  the 
coasts  of  Massachusetts  between  the  years 
1620  and  1650,  Their  farm  labors  were  too 
exacting  to  allow  many  opportunities  for  men- 
tal culture  ;  but  they  were  people  of  good 
sense,  who  feared  God  and  honored  the  King, 
who  wrote  the  English  language  as  well  as  it 
was  commonly  written  by  the  people  of  Eng- 
land at  that  time,  and  better  than  it  is  written 


COLONIAL   FARMERS.  S7 

by  some  New  England  farmers  to-day.  Their 
peculiar  phrases  and  grotesque  forms  of 
speech  had  grown  out  of  the  fashions  of  Puri- 
tanism ;  and  if  their  writings  amuse  us  by  the 
comical  combination  of  letters  which  formed 
their  words,  it  is  because  they  often  wrote  by 
sound  ;  although  they  made  peculiar  devia- 
tions from  their  phonetic  system  (as  in  writ- 
ing idpsland  for  island),  and  sometimes  they 
spelled  words  as  they  are  spelled  in  the 
English  Bible,  which,  with  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  first  printed  at  Boston  in  1681,  was 
their  principal  reading.  They  scorned  punc- 
tuation in  their  writings,  and  in  the  use  of  cap- 
ital letters  they  were  all  at  sea. 

The  wonder  is  that  they  could  write  at  all. 
When  we  consider  their  isolated  situations, 
that  there  were  but  few  schools  in  the  colony, 
and  these  were  of  short  duration  and  of  low 
grade,  that  all  laws  intended  to  maintain 
schools  had  been,  as  the  legislators  declared, 
"  shamefully  neglected,"  we  must  attribute 
the  ability  of  the  farmers  to  write  so  well  as 
they  did  to  an  education  received  by  the  fire- 
side at  home. 

Their  principal  interests  were  in  the  use 
of  the  soil,  which  they  fertilized  with  fish  and 


58      COLONIAL    TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  HAY. 

sea-wceds,  producing  abundant  crops  of  corn, 
rye,  wheat,  oats,  and  flax.  They  also  traded 
in  peltries,  fish,  and  timber.  They  gathered 
iron  ore  from  bogs  and  ponds,  and  turpentine 
from  pine-trees.  So  valuable  was  the  right 
to  gather  turpentine  regarded  that  it  was 
specially  mentioned  in  deeds  of  woodlands, 
granting  "  All  ye  privilidge  of  milking  of  pine 
trees."  Their  larder  was  bountifully  sup- 
plied with  food,  and  they  supplemented  their 
tables  with  game  from  the  forests,  with  water- 
fowl and  shore  birds,  which  frequented  the 
maritime  parts  of  the  plantation  in  great 
numbers.  Besides  what  food  the  sea  liberally 
furnished,  they  had  a  choice  from  flesh  of 
beef,  mutton,  venison,  partridge,  and  wild 
turkeys. 

They  dealt  with  each  other  in  trade  by 
barter,  and  accounts  were  allowed  to  stand 
open  for  years  before  they  were  balanced. 
When  the  amounts  had  been  carefully  reck- 
oned and  certified,  the  balance  was  adjusted 
with  a  promise  to  rectify  thereafter  any  mis- 
take. Here  are  some  illustrations  from  the 
queer  and  precise  entries  in  the  old  book  :  — 

1729.  "  Reconed  with  Joseph  blakmor  and  thare 
is  due  him  one  bushall  of  wheat  and  12  bushalls 


COLONIAL  FARMERS.  59 

of  otes  and  ii  bushalls  of  inden  corn  and  one 
shilling  " 

1 73 1.  "  Reconed  with  margret  bates  as  Execter 
to  har  husband  and  ol  acounts  balanced  A  mistak 
in  Reconing  6  shilling  for  my  hos  " 

1733.  '*  Reconed  with  Ebnezer  Swift  and  thare 
is  a  mistak  of  2  quarts  of  maleses  " 

1738.  "Reconed  with  Ebnezer  Luce  and 
acounts  balanced  from  the  begining  of  the  world 
to  the  date  here  of  " 

1746.  "Reconed  with  Epram  Tobey  and 
acounts  ballenced  all  but  ye  6  pounds  and  12 
Shillings  Left  for  consideration  " 

1747.  "Reconed  with  Nathaniel  chubback 
And  Acounts  balenced  and  hee  saith  he  is  sattes 
fied  about  ye  fouer  pound  and  will  say  Nomore  " 

1748.  "Reconed  with  Olever  Nores  and 
acounts  balenced  and  thare  is  due  to  me  twelve 
Shillings  in  mony  and  one  days  worck  " 

1750.  "  Reconed  with  Ester  Savery  before 
biniamin  Bese  and  She  and  I  promas  If  thare 
bee  any  mestack  to  Rit  it " 

Accounts  with  laborers  were  written  in  the 
book ;  and  it  was  not  forgotten  to  charge  for 
"  time  loost,"  even  when  it  was  lost  in  fever- 
and-asfue  fits :  — 


6o    COLOXIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

"January  the  28  day  1727  Theopilus  Wood 
hiered  him  self  to  mee  for  i  Yeare  for  36  pounds  " 

"April  —  Dr  to  siknes  the  fever  and  ago  4  fites 
one  weke  and  three  the  next " 

"febuary  1736  Samuel  bates  to  worck  with 
me  6  mounth  for  22  pounds  and  if  he  loos  Any 
time  to  abate  acordingly  and  If  I  se  cause  to 
have  him  make  up  the  los  of  timme  after  he  hath 
made  his  Salt  hay  he  is  to  du  it " 

"Novembers  1737  Ebnezer  bessee  to  work 
for  mee  to  10  day  of  March  at  night  with  his  own 
ax  and  I  am  to  find  him  meet  drink  washing  and 
loging  And  I  am  to  give  him  the  vallew  of  10 
pounds  but  not  in  mony  and  hee  is  to  cut  2  cords 
of  wood  in  a  day  when  hee  doth  no  other  work  " 

Another  bargain  was  made  with  this  man 
and  his  axe  to  work  eight  months,  — 

"  and  I  am  to  pay  him  one  half  in  goods  and  the 
other  in  bills  of  credit  and  if  I  think  he  dont  em 
his  wages  he  is  to  go  Away  " 

Two  Indians  who  had  agreed  to  dig  a  ditch 
were  paid  in  rum,  cider,  corn,  pork,  "  2  mugs 
of  fieep  I  knife  i  Ax  i  Shurt  i  diner." 

The  following  are  examples  of  bargains 
recorded  in  the  book  :  — 

"  Memarandum  of  a  bargen  with  John  Nores 
and  Roulan  Swift  for  pine  wood  abouf  y«  going 


COLONIAL   FARMERS.  6l 

over  y«  River  on  y«  Northerly  Side  and  I  am  to 
have  two  Shillings  per  cord  and  thay  are  to  cut 
off  ye  pine  If  thay  can  git  it  down  and  thay  are  to 
cut  one  lood  At  y^  Uperind  of  y^  Loot  and  If  they 
cannot  git  them  down  then  I  am  to  Loos  y^  wood 
and  they  to  Loos  thare  Labour  " 

"  A  bargen  with  Jonathan  Chubbuck  —  hee  is 
to  clear  a  peace  of  ground  of  mine  at  ye  River 
for  one  pound  and  one  Shilling  And  hold  plow 
for  6  Shillings  and  hee  is  to  plant  ye  ground 
and  how  3  times  and  I  am  to  plow  ye  ground  and 
find  ye  seed  and  I  am  to  have  one  half  And  hee 
is  to  gather  ye  corn  and  to  cut  ye  Stocks  and  wee 
are  to  devid  In  ye  heap  And  Shock  and  hee  Is 
to  how  in  ye  Rie  and  Reep  and  Shock  ye  rie  and 
wee  are  to  devid  in  ye  Shock  and  hee  to  find  ye 
rie  and  I  to  put  in  my  creaters  as  I  ues  to  dow  " 

"  A  bargin  with  hanary  Sanders  Juner  for  pine 
wood  to  cut  it  on  the  South  Side  of  ye  Croked 
River  and  to  put  on  bord  y^  Sloop  hee  to  have  6 
Shillings  and  I  to  have  y=  Rest  and  hee  is  to  cut 
20  cords  on  ye  furder  side  of  ye  Muddy  cove  and 
hee  is  to  have  8  Shillings  old  ten  when  hee  hath 
put  it  on  boord  ye  Sloop  and  I  ye  rest  of  ye  mony." 

Whatever  was  wanted  by  one  neighbor 
could  be  obtained  in  barter  from  others. 

"April  1737  Receved  of  Joseph  Giford  two 
hox  sets  of  melases  for  my  turpen  tine  one  hun- 


62    COLONIAL    TLMES  OAT  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

dred  and  6  gallons  4  shillings  and  2  pence  the 
gallon  one  hoxet  one  hundred  and  7  gallons  " 

A  load  of  hay  was  exchanged  for  five  pairs 
of  new  shoes,  which  were  afterwards  sold 
with  stockings  made  by  Israel  Fearing's 
eldest  daughter  Ann,  and  a  skin  for  a  pair  of 
breeches,  as  stated  in  this  account :  — 

"february  2od  1745  marck  hascul  Dr  for  one 
Lood  of  hay  fouer  pound  and  12  shillings  old 
tener.  Recived  of  marck  hascul  five  pars  of 
Shues  fouer  pounds  12  Shilling  old  ten 

"  April  25  day  1745  Jonathan  Chubback  Dr  for 
one  pare  of  Shues  twenty  shillings  If  hee  pay  it 
in  one  month  And  If  not  then  to  give  mee  twenty 
two  shillings 

"  July  1746  Elezer  King  D""  for  one 

pare  of  Shues  .  .  .  ;^o  1-05-00 
to  one  pare  of  Stockens  of 

Ann 00-16-00 

to  one  Seen  for  briches  .  00-05-00 
to  patterns  and  thread  and 

tow  cloth 00-05-00  " 

The  book  shows  that  the  variety  of  the  com- 
modities exchanged  included  cradles  and 
coffins,  cloths,  and  clothing.  To  the  widow 
Margret  Bates  "hordes  and  nayles  for  a 
cofen  "  were  supplied,  and  to  Thomas  Bates 


COLONIAL  FARMERS.  63 

"hordes   and   posts    for   your   cradel,"    and 
"  timber  for  your  house." 

Swapping  horses  was  a  common  form  of 
barter.     A  note  in  the  old  book  reads  :  — 

"John  bump  promased  to  give  mee  fouer 
pounds  old  tener  by  ye  foot  of  ye  year  beetween 
our  mars  in  ye  Swap  " 

Some  of  the  farmers  built  scows  for  trans- 
porting wood,  and  sloops  for  freighting  it  to 
market,  and  also  craft  for  fishing  and  whaling. 
A  launch  of  a  vessel,  which  was  usually  built 
in  the  woods,  sometimes  more  than  a  mile 
from  the  water,  was  an  event  which  attracted 
general  attention.  It  was  loaded  on  two 
pairs  of  wheels,  and  was  hauled  by  many 
yoke  of  oxen  to  the  launching  place.  The 
wheels  were  then  run  into  the  water  until 
the  vessel  floated  off.  Whaling  voyages  in 
which  the  farmers  were  associated  occupied 
but  a  few  months  at  sea,  as  the  blubber  was 
brought  home  in  casks  and  tried  out  on 
shore.     The  old  book  says  :  — 

"febuary  26  in  1737  agread  with  Josiah  peary 
for  Josiah  Wood  to  go  this  Spring  coming  A 
Whael  Vige  with  him  for  5  pounds  and  5  shillings 
per  mounth  from  the  time  he  goeth  from  hom 
And  one  pound  of  whale  bone  more  in  all  " 


64   COLONIAL    TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

"  March  the  28  day  1737 

Josiah  Wood  went  Easterd  on  the  Whale  Viage 
Augest  the   12  day  att  night  Josiah  Wood  was 

cleared  from  Josiah  peary  from  whalin  " 

The  outcome  of  this  voyage  was  probably 
in  the  following  memorandum  :  — 

"desember  the  i  day  1737  Receved  of  Josiah 
peary  forteen  pounds  And  he  saide  If  the  mony 
is  not  good  he  will  take  it  and  give  me  better  " 

One  of  the  laws  of  the  province  required 
the  farmers  to  send  to  a  tanner  all  "  hides  or 
skins  as  cither  by  casualty  or  slaughter  came 
to  hand  ;"  it  forbade  butchers,  curriers,  and 
shoemakers  to  "  exercise  the  feat  or  mystery 
of  a  tanner,"  and  it  forbade  him  to  exercise 
any  other  trade.  The  farmers  had  accounts 
with  tanners  like  the  following  :  — 

"  Ichabd  King  had  of  me  2  skens  to  dres  in 
1733  december  6  day  to  4  mor  skens  to  tan  for 
me  the  one  maid  47  one  52  one  51  pounds  the 
other  a  cones  sken  :  the  52  paide  for  in  parte  of 
excainging  of  a  hos  in  1734  to  2  doges  skens  to 
dres  and  2  sheep  skens  in  1735  to  one  cow  hide  " 

This  tanner  took  in  payment  of  his  account 
corn  and  rye  and  "  one  dog "  to  balance  it. 
Some  took  one  half  of  the  skins  in  payment 
for  the  exercise  of  their  "  mystery  :  "  — 


COLONIAL  FARMERS.  65 

"April  1737  cared  to  Ebenezer  Peary  to  dres 
one  hos  hide  for  a  bage  one  cow  hide  and  4  kepes 
Scenes  to  tan  and  to  curey  to  the  halves  —  Dr  to 
one  calves  Seen  that  he  dresed  and  I  am  to  have 
the  neext " 

The  currency  was  so  bad  that  leather  was 
sometimes  used  as  an  equivalent  of  money ; 
as  in  1749,  "paide  to  Roulan  Tupper  one 
pound  and  Seventeen  Shillings  and  Sixpence 
in  leather." 

Iron  was  also  used  in  the  same  manner  :  — 

"  desember  1744  Sold  to  mr  Joshua  bensen  20 
bushalls  of  corn  and  20  bushalls  of  rye  for  twelve 
shillings  per  bushall  and  to  be  paide  in  bloomary 
Iron  to  be  delivered  at  my  hous  at  four  pounds 
old  tener  per  hundred  but  good  liron 

November  ye  18  1746  benianan  Eles  D'  for 
Iron  to  be  paid  in  Smith  worck  twenty-fouer 
pounds  ten  Shillings  and  Six  pence  " 

So  also  rye  and  corn  were  of  value  in 
trading :  — 

*'  John  Fearing  bought  a  gun  of  Nehemia  bese 
for  3  bushalls  of  corn  and  3  bushalls  of  rye  at  six 
pounds  twelve  Shillings  and  If  ye  corn  or  rye 
fecheth  more  by  the  18  day  of  Augest  he  is  to 
give  it  and  to  pay  for  mending  his  gun  If  he  Re- 
deemeth  her" 

The  prices  of  all  things  were  affected  by 
the  varying  value  of  colonial  bills  of  credit. 


66      COLONIAL    TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

which,  according  to  a  letter  written  by  Gov- 
ernor Belcher  at  Boston  in  1739,  were  "not 
worth  five  shillings  in  the  pound  of  the  cur- 
rent silver  money  of  this  Province."  This 
currency,  known  as  old  tenor,  described  in 
the  General  Court  records  as  "  printed  bills 
of  equal  value  with  money,"  was  first  issued 
by  the  Massachusetts  colony  in  1690  and  1691 
to  defray  the  cost  of  an  expedition  sent  to 
capture  Quebec.  The  first  legislature  under 
the  charter  of  1692  made  these  bills  "equiva- 
lent to  money,"  by  which  was  meant  equiva- 
lent to  gold  and  silver  coinage,  for  all  pay- 
ments except  in  specified  cases.  Their  credit 
was  maintained  by  receiving  them  in  public 
payments  at  a  premium.  After  the  passage 
of  this  legal-tender  act  gold  and  silver  coins 
were  rapidly  exported  to  England.  Other 
issues  of  printed  bills  in  subsequent  years 
were  made  "  equal  to  money,"  and  it  became 
a  general  complaint  that  gold  and  silver  coins 
were  "not  to  be  had."  Trade  came  to  a 
stand-still.  Farm  produce  was  the  best  of  all 
values. 

In  1737  a  new  issue  of  paper  money,  called 
new  tenor,  was  made.  It  was  to  be  redeemed 
after  five  years  "  in  silver  money  at  six  shil- 


COLONIAL  FARMERS.  6/ 

lings  and  eight  pence  per  ounce."  One  shil- 
ling of  this  was  valued  as  three  shillings  of 
old  tenor.  Representatives  whose  pay  had 
been  six  shillings  a  day  for  attendance  at  the 
legislature  and  for  traveling  to  and  fro,  count- 
ing twenty  miles  as  a  day's  journey,  were 
now  paid  two  shillings  a  day  in  new  tenor 
bills.  But  the  redemption  promised  was  not 
made,  and  by  a  further  repudiation,  four 
pounds  for  one  was  fixed  as  the  rate  of  ex- 
changing old  tenor  for  new. 

In  1749  by  legal  enactment  forty-five  shil- 
lings of  old  tenor,  or  eleven  shillings  and 
three  pence  of  new,  were  redeemed  by  a 
Spanish-milled  dollar  ;  and  it  was  also  enacted 
that  after  March,  1750,  all  debts  and  con- 
tracts "  shall  be  understood  to  be  payable  in 
coined  silver"  at  these  rates.  The  means  of 
making  this  adjustment  were  furnished  by 
the  receipt  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-nine  pounds 
two  shillings  and  seven  pence  sterling  granted 
by  Parliament  "to  reimburse  the  Province 
their  Expenses  in  taking  and  securing  for  his 
Majesty  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton  and  its 
dependances."  ^ 

1  "  Sunday  Aug.  6.  The  Mermaid  man-of-war,  Capt  Mon- 
tague sailed  from  Portsmouth  for  Boston  having  on  board 


68    COLONIAL    TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

The  value  of  the  colonial  pound  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  Spanish  dollar  was  now  fixed  by 
law  ;  it  was  equal  to  three  dollars  and  thirty- 
three  and  one  third  cents  in  silver,  and  a  shil- 
ling  was  one  sixth  of  a  dollar.  This  currency 
and  its  reckonings  continued  in  use  in  New 
England  more  than  a  hundred  years. 

The    man   whose    accounts    and    writings 

have    been    quoted  was  a  representative   of 

the  thrifty  class  of  farmers  of  his  time.     His 

book  shows  that  he  was  sought   for  as  an 

arbitrator  in  differences  between  neighbors ; 

as  when  in  1747  he  charged  Zacceus  Bump 

"  for  going  to    plimoth    to    stop   ye   action 

with  Squer  Bartlet  £,\-      More  to  going  to 

650,000  ounces  of  foreign  silver  coin  and  ten  tons  of  cop- 
per purchased  by  Sir  Peter  Warren  and  Mr.  Bollan,  agents 
for  New  England,  with  the  money  paid  them  at  the  Ex- 
chequer, for  indemnifying  that  colony  for  their  expenses 
about  Cape  Breton." —  Gentleman' s  Magazine,  August,  174^. 
"  I  congratulate  you,  Gentlemen,  upon  the  favour  of 
Divine  Providence  in  the  Safe  Arrival  of  the  Money 
allowed  by  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  whereby  we 
are  enabled  in  a  good  Measure  to  pay  off  the  great  Debt 
contracted  by  the  Charge  of  the  late  War  &  now  lying 
upon  this  Province  ;  And  We  by  the  Blessing  of  God  upon 
Our  wise  &  faithful  management  of  this  Advantage,  deliver 
this  Province  from  the  Evils  &  Mischiefs  arising  from  the 
uncertain  &  sinking  value  of  the  Paper  Medium."  —  Liait.- 
Governor  Phips,  November  2j,  I74g. 


COLONIAL  FARMERS.  69 

Rogester  for  power  of  Aturny  fech  Squire 
Winslo  down  here  £,\-^-(>.''  By  his  acqui- 
sitions he  came  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  that 
class  which  the  colony  court  had  described 
as  "Substanciall  men  that  are  prudent  psons 
and  of  considerable  estates  in  the  Lands  of 
Scippican."  ^  He  received  the  first  commis- 
sion given  to  an  inhabitant  of  Wareham  as 
His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace,  an  office 
of  great  dignity.  His  court  records,  written 
in  a  medley  of  farming  accounts  and  notes 
of  bargains,  contain  only  the  two  cases  here 
quoted  of  cursing  and  swearing  in  violation 
of  the  law,  indicating  that  conversational 
language  was,  in  his  day,  kept  under  a  closer 
restraint  than  it  is  now  :  — 

"October  21-1748  Ebnezer  Swift  of  falmouth 
for  prof ain  Swaring  two  times  in  my  hearing  paide 

1  At  Israel  Fearing's  death  in  June,  1754,  his  real  estate 
was  appraised  at  ^'4,000,  and  his  personal  estate  at  £,'^\o. 
In  the  latter  there  was  pewter  ware  ^^15,  but  no  china 
ware ;  there  were  two  saddle  mares,  two  saddles,  two  carts, 
but  no  vehicle  for  traveling  purposes.  The  inventory 
specified  /■  2-1 3-4  in  "  Loombs  and  Tacklg,"  ;f  5  in  books, 
£22^-^  in  money  and  notes,  £'^-j  in  bedding  and  furniture, 
;^55  in  "  Chest-drawers  and  chests,"  ;^i6  in  apparel. 

His  wife  Martha,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Ann  Gibbs 
of  Sandwich,  where  her  birth  is  recorded  "  on  ye  last  day 
of  Oct  1699,"  died  in  September,  1754. 


yo   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

his  fine  twenty  Shillings  old  tener  to  mee  Israel 
Fearing  Justes  of  peac  " 

"  March  y*  2d  day  1749  A  complant  came  to 
mee  of  Joseph  Savery  of  Rogester  cursing  Ensin 
Ebnezer  burg  two  times  and  hee  paid  his  fine 
twenty  Shillings  old  tener  to  mee  Israel  Fearing 
Just  of  peac  " 

At  his  death  the  account-book  fell  into  the 
hands  of  his  son  Noah,  as  executor,  who,  after 
dividing  the  large  estate,  made  this  quaint 
note  concerning  the  remnants  :  — 

"April  1755 — The  a  Count  of  what  Every  one 
Received  That  was  Fathers  Estate  old  tener. 
Benjamin  Had  a  pair  of  Shues  .     .     > £f--S~^ 
John  Had  a  pair  of  Nee  Buckels  Silver     4-0-0 
David  Had  a  Beaver  Hat      ....     4-0-0 

David  Had  Cash i-io-o 

I  Had  one  wosted  Cap  and  a  pair  of 

old  Shoues i-io-o 

I  had  a  ox  and  Benj°  Had  another  ox   30-0-0  " 


IV. 


THE   SQUIRE. 

OHN,  who  received  the  silver  knee- 
buckles,  having  taken  unto  himself 
a  wife,  became  the  proprietor  of 
the  farm  on  Fearing  Hill  ;  and  having  been 
appointed  to  succeed  his  father  in  the  office 
of  His  Majesty's  Justice  of  the  peace,  the 
title  Esquire  was  written  as  an  appendage  to 
his  name.  The  people,  looking  upon  him  as 
a  unique  figure  in  their  community,  spoke  of 
him  as  The  Squire  and  treated  him  with 
respect,  for  they  regarded  him  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  "our  Soveraign  Lord  the  King." 
To  speak  profane  words  in  his  presence  was 
an  offense  punishable  by  a  fine,  or  by  a  sit- 
ting in  the  town  stocks.  He  had  to  do  with 
the  domestic  as  well  as  with  the  civil  life  of 
the  town.  By  his  consent  only  could  indent- 
ures of    service   be    entered   into;^    and   a 

1  "  Rebeekah  wickod  indenters  at  Capt  Edward  Wens- 
lows  And  she  is  to  live  With  me  fourteen  years  and  nine 


72    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

funeral  could  not  take  place  "  on  the  Lord's 
Day  or  evening  following,"  except  by  his  per- 
mission, to  be  given  only  in  urgent  cases. 
He  was  not  nominated  for  the  office  by  the 
ruling  power  because  he  was  wise  and  learned 
in  the  law  ;  but  rather  because  he  was  one 
of  the  "most  sufficient  persons"  dwelling  in 
the  county,  known  to  be  loyal,  of  dignified 
deportment,  and  possessed  of  lands  or  tene- 
ments yielding  a  certain  annual  value.  The 
oath  to  which  he  subscribed  bound  him  to 

mounths  from  2d  day  of  May,  1729."  —  Israel  Bearing's 
Book. 

An  Indenture  of  service  was  a  written  agreement  entered 
into  with  the  consent  of  two  of  His  Majesty's  justices  of 
the  peace  for  the  county.  By  its  usual  form  the  woman 
servant  bound  herself  to  learn  the  "  Art  Trade  or  Mystery  " 
of  her  master  ;  to  dwell  at  his  house  ;  obey  his  reasonable 
commands  gladly ;  his  "  Secrets  keep  close  ;  Damage  not 
willfully  to  do ;  Goods  not  to  waste,  embezel,  purloine  or 
lend  to  others ;  at  Cards,  Dice,  or  any  other  unlawful 
Game  not  to  play ;  Fornication  not  to  commit,  nor  Matri- 
mony contract  with  any  Person  during  said  Term."  On 
the  other  part  the  master  was  bound  to  cause  her  to  be 
taught  "  the  Trade  Art  or  Mystery  of  Spinning  both  Wol- 
len  and  Linen  and  to  read  English ; "  to  provide  for  her 
good  and  sufficient  "  Victualls  and  Drink  Washing  and 
Lodging  and  Cloaths  of  all  kinds  ;  "  and  at  the  end  of  her 
term  to  dismiss  her  with  "  two  Good  Suits  of  Apparell  for 
all  parts  of  her  Body,  one  for  Holly  Days  and  one  for 
Working  Days." 


THE  SQUIRE.  73 

"dispense  justice  equally  and  impartially  in 
all  cases  and  do  equal  right  to  the  poor  and 
to  the  rich  after  your  cunning  wit  and  power 
according  to  law." 

The  colonial  laws  which  he  administered 
had  been  made  by  wise  legislators,  who  in- 
tended that  there  should  be  neither  traveling, 
labor,  amusements,  nor  funerals  on  Sunday; 
but  a  solemn  and  decorous  observance  of  the 
day  by  masters  and  servants,  and  a  general 
attendance  at  the  public  services  in  the 
meeting-house ;  that  there  should  be  no  pro- 
fane swearing,  nor  cursing  of  persons  or  crea- 
tures ;  no  drunkenness,  nor  brawls ;  that 
debtors  must  pay  their  debts  either  with 
money  or  with  service.  Here  are  some  ex- 
tracts from  the  records  written  by  His  Ma- 
jesty's justice  of  the  peace,  showing  how  he 
executed  the  laws  of  the  province  :  — 

'^September  ye  23  Day  1761  Then  Reuben 
winslow  of  Free  Town  Paid  as  a  fine  For  a  Breach 
of  his  majestys  peace  For  Spiting  in  the  Face 
of  Barnebus  Swift  and  Rubing  his  Ears  in  the 
Town  of  wareham  Four  Shilings  to  me  " 

"Then  Stephen  Bourn  of  Sandwich  paid  as  a 
fine  For  a  Breach  of  his  majestys  peace  For 
Defemce  with  Ebenezer  Swift  Junr  he  Threw  him 


74    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

on  The  ground  and  Spit  in  his  face  and  Poled  his 
hare  and  Rubed  his  Ears  in  Wareham  the  sum 
of  Four  Shilings  To  me  " 

"May  23  Day  1763  Then  Eliz  Bump  the  wife 
of  Juhn  Bump  Junr  paid  a  fine  of  Ten  Shilings  to 
me  for  Burning  the  Daughter  of  Jonathan  Chub- 
back  named  Susanah  Tho  she  said  she  did  it 
By  an  axatant " 

"December  5  Day  1767  then  Samuel  l^arrows 
of  wareham  parsonly  appeared  and  acknowledged 
himself  Gilty  of  Being  over  Tacken  with  Strong 
Lecker  and  paid  a  fine  of  5  Shilings  to  me  " 

"May  1769  then  Joshuea  morse  personly  and 
acknowledged  him  Self  Gilty  of  prefane  Swaring 
at  Benjamin  Fearings  Before  Josiah  Carver 
Grand  Jureyman  and  paid  Six  Shilings  to  me" 

"  Whereas  William  Parcker  of  Wareham  La- 
borer Stands  Convicted  Before  me  John  Fearing 
Esqre  one  of  his  majesties  Justics  of  the  pece 
for  the  County  of  Plymoth  In  a  complaint  by 
Jabez  Burggs  of  sd  wareham  Cordwinder  For 
Theft  —  the  Damages  and  Corst  of  Proscution 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  Two  pounds  Seventeen 
Shillings  &  nine  pence  Lawful  money  —  »S:  he  the 
sd  william  not  having  any  Estate  To  Satisfie  sd 
Judgment  I  do  In  obediance  to  ye  Law  of  this 
Province  put  bound  out  and  Set  over  Ye  said 
William   to    the   said  Jabez   and  to  his   bars   or 


THE  SQUIRE.  75 

asignes  To  Serve  him  or  them  the  Term  of  one 
year  From  the  Date  hearof  he  Finding  him  Good 
and  Sufficent  meet  &  Drink  Lodging  &  apperel 
During  Said  Term — and  I  do  Injoin  ye  sd  Wil- 
liam Parcker  to  serve  ye  sd  Jabez  Burggs  or  as- 
sighns  faithfully  During  Said  Term  Wittness  my 
hand  this  Fif tenth  Day  of  March  Ad  177 1  " 

If  offenders  did  not  pay  the  fines  imposed 
upon  them,  he  could  place  them  in  the  stocks, 
or  order  them  to  be  whipped.  Persons  who 
lived  disorderly,  "misspending  their  precious 
time,"  he  could  send  to  the  work-house,  to 
the  stocks,  or  to  the  whipping-post,  at  his 
discretion.  He  could  break  open  doors 
where  liquors  were  concealed  to  defraud  His 
Majesty's  excise.  He  could  issue  hue-and- 
cries  for  runaway  servants  and  thieves. 
There  are  instances  on  record  in  which  a 
justice  of  the  peace  issued  his  warrant  to 
arrest  the  town  minister  about  whose  ortho- 
doxy there  were  distressing  rumors,  and  re- 
quired him  to  be  examined  upon  matters  of 
doctrine  and  faith.  But  a  more  pleasing 
function  of  his  office  was  to  marry  those  who 
came  to  him  for  marriage,  bringing  the  town 
clerk's  certificate  that  their  nuptial  intentions 
had  been  proclaimed  at  three  religious  meet- 


76   COLONIAL   TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

ings  in  the  parish  during  the  preceding  fort- 
night. If  the  bride  was  an  insolvent  debtor, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  prove  that  she  was 
possessed  of  no  goods  whatever,  she  was 
married  "  with  no  more  clothes  on  than  her 
shift ; "  and  this  fact  was  certified  in  the 
justice's  record.^  For  the  marriage  fee  he 
claimed  four  shillings  and  gave  "out  of  it  six- 
pence to  the  town  clerk,"  as  said  a  law  of  1716. 
Not  always  did  the  town  clerk  receive  the 
sixpences  ;  for  the  dignity  of  office  did  not 
hinder  His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace 
from  practicing  the  parsimony  of  the  times. 

1  "  In  her  smock  with  head  and  foot  all  bare,"  as  Chau- 
cer wrote.  Hence  they  were  called  smock  marriages. 
According  to  the  records  of  Kingston  in  Rhode  Island, 
"  Nathaniel  Bundy  took  ye  widow  Mary  Parmenter  in  ye 
highway  with  no  other  clothing  but  shifting  or  smock  on 
ye  evening  of  the  20th  day  of  April  1724  and  was  joined 
together  in  that  honorable  estate  of  matrimony  per  me 
John  Saunders,  Justice."  Five  men  were  witnesses  of 
this  marriage.  The  same  records  certify,  in  February 
1719,  a  ceremony  in  which  the  bridegroom  "took  her  in 
Marriage  after  she  had  gone  four  times  a  cross  the  High- 
way in  only  her  shift  and  hair  lace  and  no  other  clothing." 
There  was  no  law  requiring  this  form  of  marriage  ;  yet 
the  minister  of  a  town  on  Buzzard's  Bay  wrote :  "  Sep- 
tember ye  5::  1749:  then  did  nathan  Shearman  take  the 
widow  mary  tailor  in  her  Shift  without  head  Cloath  and 
bare  foot  and  led  her  a  Cross  the  highway  where  two 
highways  mett  as  the  Law  directs  in  such  cases  and  was 
then  married  by  me  phillip  taber  minister  of  Dartmouth." 


V. 

THE  BIRTH   OF  A  TOWN. 

S  the  farmers  of  Agawame  were  sep- 
arated by  fifteen  miles  of  forest  from 
Plymouth  meeting-house,  they  felt  the 
need  of  a  parish  and  a  town  government  of 
their  own.  So  also  felt  the  farmers  at  the 
east  end  of  Rochester,  who,  having  obtained 
a  separation  from  their  old  parish  in  1734,  de- 
sired to  unite  with  those  of  Agawame  in  form- 
ing a  new  town.  No  one  was  active  to  ac- 
complish this  end  until  Israel  Fearing  went, 
in  April,  1738,  to  lobby  the  matter  with  the 
selectmen  of  Plymouth.  He  made  a  second 
journey  thither  in  May,  carrying  the  petition 
of  himself  and  his  neighbors  for  a  precinct. 
The  result  was  so  satisfactory  to  him  that  af- 
ter the  meeting  had  adjourned  he  treated  the 
selectmen  at  an  expense  of  three  shillings, 
and  returned  at  once  to  Agawame  to  prepare 
himself  to  take  a  petition  to  the  legislature  at 
Boston. 


78    COLONIAL    TIMES   ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  May, 
1738,  his  mare  having  been  newly  shod  and 
carefully  saddled,  Israel  Fearing  started  on 
the  journey  to  Boston.  The  road  which  he 
traveled  was  narrow  and  tortuous  —  a  lane 
through  a  forest,  having  rocks  and  quagmires 
and  long  reaches  of  sand,  which  made  it  al- 
most impassable  to  wheels,  if  any  there  were 
to  be  ventured  upon  it.  Branches  of  large 
trees  were  stretched  over  it,  so  that  it  was 
unvisited  by  sunlight  except  at  those  places 
where  it  crossed  the  clearings  on  which  a  sol- 
itary husbandman  had  established  his  home- 
stead, or  where  it  followed  the  sandy  shores 
of  some  of  those  picturesque  ponds  which 
feed  the  rivers  emptying  into  Buzzard's  Bay. 
Occasionally  a  deer  bounded  across  the 
path,  and  foxes  were  seen  running  into  the 
thickets. 

The  nimble  mare,  accustomed  to  such  ways, 
carried  her  rider  at  a  steady  pace  during  the 
day,  baiting  at  Scituate  village,  and  reaching 
Roxbury  Neck  about  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, where  a  stop  for  a  half  hour  was  made 
at  the  St.  George  tavern.  From  this  elevated 
site  the  traveler  saw  the  steeples  of  Boston, 
its  harbor  lively  with  vessels,  the  King's  ships 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A    TOWN.  79 

riding  before  the  town,  Cambridge  and  the 
shores  of  the  mainland  in  the  distance.  Hav- 
ing refreshed  himself  and  the  mare  he  trotted 
along  the  narrow  way  leading  into  the  great 
town,  on  which  the  most  prominent  object  at- 
tracting his  attention  was  a  gallows  standing 
at  the  gate. 

When  he  rode  within  he  found  in  every- 
thing around  him  a  wonderful  contrast  to  the 
quiet  and  monotonous  scenes  which  had  al- 
ways surrounded  his  life  at  Agawame.  The 
streets  were  paved  with  cobble-stones,  and 
were  thronged  with  hackney-coaches,  sedan- 
chairs,  four-horse  shays,  and  calashes,  in  some 
of  which  gayly  dressed  people  were  riding, 
the  horses  being  driven  by  their  negro  slaves. 
Gentlemen  on  handsome  saddle-horses  paced 
by  him,  in  comparison  with  whom  he  made  a 
sorry  figure.  But  he  was  reassured  of  his 
own  manliness  when  he  encountered  a  flock 
of  sheep,  and  ox-carts  just  in  from  the  coun- 
try laden  with  fire-wood,  fagots,  and  hay. 
He  noticed  with  amazement  the  stately  brick 
houses  and  their  pleasant  gardens,  in  which 
pear-trees  and  peach-trees  were  blooming.  In 
the  Mall,  gentlemen  dressed  in  embroidered 
coats,  satin  waistcoats,  silken  hose,  and  full 


80   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

wigs,  were  taking  an  after-dinner  stroll  with 
ladies  who  were  attired  in  bright  silks  and 
furbelowed  scarfs,  and  adorned  with  artificial 
flowers  and  patches  on  their  cheeks.  Boston 
was  an  active,  thrifty  trading  town  ;  its  shops, 
distilleries,  wind-mills,  and  rope-walks  were 
all  agoing ;  and  as  he  turned  his  mare  into 
King  Street  and  pulled  up  at  the  Bunch  of 
Grapes  tavern,  which,  being  near  to  the  Town 
House,  was  conveniently  situated  for  the 
business  on  which  he  was  bent,  he  probably 
felt  that  in  such  a  wealthy  and  worldly  place 
his  simple  errand  would  receive  but  little  at- 
tention. At  the  shutting  in  of  the  evening, 
James  Warren,  an  influential  member  of  the 
legislature  from  Plymouth,  came  to  his  assist- 
ance. To  him  the  petition  was  intrusted,  and 
having  paid  him  twenty  shillings,  Israel  Fear- 
ing rode  back  to  Agawame. 

A  precinct  did  not  meet  the  public  wants, 
and  next  year  Ebenezer  Burgess,  Thomas 
Hamlen,  and  their  neighbors  petitioned  the 
legislature  for  a  town  ;  "  finding  ourselves," 
they  said,  "  too  small  and  Impotent  to  main- 
tain the  Public  Worship  of  God."  Israel 
Fearing's  record  of  the  business  was  this  :  — 

"April  1738  going  to  the  Selectmen  to  work 
the  meeting  for  a  presink  one  day  ;^i-oo-oo 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A    TOWN.  8 1 

"  May  1738  going  to  the  town  of  plymoth  with 
a  petision  two  dayes  Mony  to  treet  the  Select 
men     3  shillings 

"May  *''29  1738  going  to  carey  the  peticion  to 
boston  one  pound  —  and  twenty  shillings  of  mony 
to  Cornol  Woring 

"March  ^''i  day  1739  going  to  plymouth  to 
Cornol  Woring  to  fetch  the  Copey  of  the  Cort 
for  a  precenk  and  paid  to  Cor  Woring  three  shil- 
lings " 

His  book  tells  us  nothing  of  the  discus- 
sions by  the  farmers  when  he  reported  to 
them  the  result  of  his  journeys  across  the 
wilderness  to  Boston,  carrying  in  his  saddle- 
bags their  hopes  for  self-government  and  the 
shillings  which  they  had  contributed  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  this  momentous  enterprise. 
But  the  book  tells  who  his  backers  were,  and 
what  number  of  shillings  each  gave  or  prom- 
ised to  give  to  procure  the  act  by  which  the 
plantation  was  converted  to  a  town.  Here  is 
the  list :  — 

"  Recevd  to  goo  with  the  petion  of  my 

own  mony        10  shillings 

and  of  mr  John  Eles 05 

and  of  mr  Joshua  gibbes      ....  05 
and  of  mr  Samuel  buerg       ....  05 


82    COLONIAL    TIMES   ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

and  of  mr  thomas  bates  the  promas  of  05  shillings 
and  of  mr  Ebnezer  beese      ....  04 
and  of  mr  Ebnezer  Swift  the  promas  of  05 
and  of  mr  Uriah  Savery       ....  05 

and  of  mr  Jirey  Swift 05 

and  of  mr  micah  gibbes 05  " 

Governor  Belcher  signed  the  act  incorpo- 
rating the  town  July  10,  1739,  and  was  soon 
after  removed  from  office.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Governor  Shirley,  who,  ambitious  of  royal 
favor  and  thinking  that  the  number  of  towns 
.was  increasing  too  rapidly,  determined  that 
Wareham  should  be  the  last  "  until  His  Ma- 
jesty's pleasure  shall  be  known." 

The  little  town  then  became  the  text  for  a 
correspondence  between  the  governor  and 
the  British  ministry,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  establish  the  right  of  the  King  of  England 
to  limit  the  number  of  representatives  in  the 
colonial  legislature.  The  governor  wrote  to 
London  that  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
towns  was  an  increase  of  representatives  ; 
that  the  present  number  of  these  men  "  hath 
been  sufficient  to  embarrass  His  Majesty's 
Government  here,"  and,  taking  the  act  incor- 
porating the  town  of  Wareham  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  facility  with  which  towns  had  been 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A  TOWN.  83 

created,  he  proposed  "  to  prevent  the  further 
increase  of  representatives  "  by  refusing  to 
give  his  assent  to  any  act  incorporating  a 
new  town  or  dividing  an  old  one  until  it  had 
been  approved  by  the  King. 

But  if  His  Majesty  had  inquired  of  the 
farmers  of  Wareham,  who  had  so  sparingly 
counted  out  their  shillings  to  Israel  Fearing, 
he  would  have  learned  that  they  had  no 
money  to  give  for  the  expenses  of  a  repre- 
sentative at  Boston,  and  that  they  never  had 
desired  to  be  represented  there. 

The  town  having  been  incorporated,  the 
next  thing  for  the  farmers  to  do  was  to  hold 
a  town  meeting. 


VL 


THE  TOWN'S  MIND. 


1 1 E  object  of  all  town  meetings  was  "  to 
know  the  Town's  Mind ;  "  whether  it 
was  for  doing  this,  or  for  doing  that, 
or  for  doing  something  else.  In  the  warrants 
it  was  written  with  capital  letters,  and  was 
alluded  to  as  if  it  were  a  distinguished  per- 
son, slow  to  act,  and  to  be  consulted  on  every 
matter,  small  and  great.  On  the  si.xth  day  of 
August,  1739,  the  Town's  Mind  of  Wareham, 
of  the  County  of  Plymouth,  of  the  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  summoned  for  the 
first  time  "  to  make  Choice  of  a  town  Clark 
and  all  other  town  officers." 

The  town  clerk  recorded  in  the  town  book 
the  decisions  of  the  Town's  Mind.  In  the 
same  book  he  recorded  births,  marriages,  and 
deaths ;  transfers  of  pews  in  the  meeting- 
house ;  descriptions  of  articles  lost  and  found ; 
of  estrays  taken  up,  as  "  a  Reed  Stray  Hefar 


THE   TOWN'S  MIND.  85 

two  years  old  and  she  hath  sum  white  In  the 
face."  Here  he  also  recorded  the  marks  by 
which  farmers  identified  their  cattle,  although 
the  reader  of  the  records  may  suppose  that 
they  were  the  marks  by  which  farmers  them- 
selves were  identified.  For  example  :  "Joshua 
Brigs  mark  Is  a  Scware  Crop  In  the  under 
side  of  ye  Right  ear;"  "Thomas  Whittens 
mark  Is  a  mackrels  tales  In  Both  Ears." 

There  is  no  romance  in  the  clerk's  annals  ; 
they  deal  only  with  such  facts  as  interested 
the  townspeople,  who  were  accustomed  to 
think  more  about  their  woodlands,  crops,  cat- 
tle, and  salt  marshes  than  about  anything  else. 
It  must  be  confessed  that,  important  man  as 
he  was,  he  did  not  always  write  the  records 
in  a  scholarly  style  nor  in  a  readable  hand. 
He  was  frugal-minded.  His  closely  written 
Hnes,  running  zigzag  like  a  rail  fence  across 
the  pages,  reveal  a  desire  to  be  saving  of  the 
book,  and  the  formation  of  his  words  shows 
that  no  extravagance  could  be  allowed  in  the 
use  of  the  alphabet.  The  Wareham  book 
testifies  that  one  of  the  qualifications  of  can- 
didates for  this  oflfice  was  an  entire  want  of 
skill  to  write  the  English  language  correctly ; 
a  want  which  sore  beset  the  men  and  women 


86    COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

of  colonial  New  England,  notwithstanding  the 
compulsory  school  laws. 

In  the  judgment  of  the  Town's  Mind  the 
honors  of  the  clerk's  office  were  a  fair  com- 
pensation for  its  labors  ;  he  was  elected  to 
serve  for  nothing;  as,  in  1761,  "maid  chois 
ot  Beniamin  Fearing  Town  Clarck  for  the 
year  Insuing  without  fees  from  ye  Town  and 
he  Excepted."  Sometimes  the  clerk  was 
granted  a  small  amount  of  money,  to  be  raised 
by  a  general  tax,  that  he  might  piece  out  the 
fees  allowed  him  by  law  for  special  work, 
called  in  the  vernacular  "the  ProfTites  of  the 
Townes  Bookes  ; "  for  example,  Rochester 
town,  in  171 1,  "agreed  with  Peter  Blackmcr 
that  twenty  shillings  in  money  should  be 
raised  by  Rate  to  satisfie  him  for  keeping 
of  the  town  Booke  for  about  eleven  years 
past." 

The  treasurer  of  the  town  did  not  fare  so 
well.  A  province  law  declared  that  he  should 
have  "  such  allowance  for  his  services  as  the 
town  shall  agree  to ; "  and  when  he  was 
elected  the  Town's  Mind  agreed  to  allov/  him 
nothing.  For  example  :  1745,  "chose  Samuel 
Burge  Town  treasurer  and  he  is  to  Serve  the 
Town  for  Love  and  jrood  will."     After  a  time 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  8/ 

six  shillings  a  year  — or  "sex  shelangs,"  as 
the  clerk  of  the  period  wrote  it  —  were 
allowed  the  treasurer  for  his  services,  and  in 
1780  his  salary  was  increased  to  ten  dollars. 
This  extravagance  can  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  the  paper  currency  of  the  coun- 
try was  at  that  time  almost  worthless  ;  silver 
coins  were  scarce,  and  farm  products,  such  as 
grain,  wool,  flax,  and  meats,  were  their  only 
equivalents  in  trade  and  barter.  The  ten 
paper  dollars  paid  to  the  treasurer  in  1780 
were  not  worth  more  than  the  "sex  she- 
langs" of  peaceful  times,  which,  by  the  prov- 
ince laws  of  1749,  had  been  made  equal  to 
a  Spanish  milled  dollar. 

In  addition  to  the  clerk  and  the  treasurer, 
the  town's  officers  annually  chosen  were 
numerous.  Some  of  them  were  authorized 
by  legislative  enactments  and  some  by  custom 
only.  There  were  men  "to  make  up  ac- 
counts "  with  the  treasurer ;  others  to  per- 
ambulate the  boundaries  ;  one  "  able  man," 
called  in  the  records  the  "  Clark  of  the 
markit,"  to  affix  the  town's  seal  to  all  weights 
and  measures  found  to  be  true  according  to 
the  standards  sent  out  of  England  in  the 
reign  of  William  and  Mary,  and  to  destroy 


88    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

the  false.  To  enable  this  officer  to  do  his 
duty  fairly,  the  town  bought  a  London  set  of 
"wates  and  mesuers,"  as  the  clerk  wrote  it, 
at  a  cost  of  ten  pounds. 

Good  orthodox  leather  was  considered  to 
be  a  prime  necessity,  like  orthodox  preaching, 
and  therefore  men  were  chosen,  who  by  au- 
thority of  law  stamped  the  town's  mark  upon 
all  leather  well  and  sufficiently  tanned  or 
curried ;  and  who  seized  all  unstamped  and 
defective  leather  offered  for  sale,  whether  it 
had  been  worked  up  or  not.  And  as  no  man 
was  allowed  to  make  his  own  theology,  so 
none  was  allowed  to  make  his  own  leather, 
unless  he  was  skilled  in  what  the  law  styled 
"  the  feat  or  mystery  of  a  tanner ; "  and  if  so 
skilled  he  was  prohibited  from  exercising  any 
other  trade. 

There  were  fence-viewers  chosen  to  adjust 
controversies  between  the  owners  of  adjoin- 
ing lands.  There  were  inspectors  of  high- 
ways and  bridges.  There  were  inspectors  of 
rivers,  who  were  sworn  to  secure  to  shad  and 
alewives  a  free  passage  up  and  down  the 
town's  streams.  Once  a  year  they  came  be- 
fore His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace  and 
took  an  oath  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  the 
fish,  who  recorded  the  fact  as  follows  :  — 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  89 

"  March  the  22  day  1756  Insign  Swift  and  Eb- 
enezer  Brigs  hath  taken  ye  oath  Taking  Care  of 
the  Ale  wives  not  Being  Stoped  from  going  up  the 
Revers  to  cast  their  Spoms  before  me  John  Fear- 
ing." 

There  were  hog-reeves,  to  see  that  when 
hogs  went  abroad  they  wore  rings  in  their 
noses,  and  yokes  of  the  regulation  size  on 
their  necks.  The  law  called  them  meet  per- 
sons ;  they  were  unpopular,  as  they  made 
fees  by  using  their  authority  to  seize  swine 
found  without  a  keeper,  a  yoke,  a  tethering 
line,  or  snout  rings,  "so  as  to  prevent  damage 
by  rooting."  Benjamin  Smith,  of  Taunton, 
sent  a  petition  to  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lature, in  December,  1722:  "Shewing  That 
being  the  Hog  Reve  of  the  said  Town  He 
suffered  much  in  the  Execution  of  that  Office, 
And  Praying  that  this  Court  would  determine 
Whether  his  Oath  is  not  a  good  &  lawful 
Evidence  Though  he  be  Hog  Reve."  When, 
in  later  times,  as  swine  became  less  numer- 
ous, the  office  became  a  sinecure,  the  popular 
candidate  for  it  was  usually  the  last  bride- 
groom in  the  town. 

Two  tything-men,  called  in  the  vernacular 
**  tidymen,"   were  chosen    from    those  who 


QO   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

were  supposed  to  be  prudent  and  discreet. 
Every  incumbent  of  this  office  had  need  of 
prudence  and  discretion,  for,  although  he  no 
longer,  as  in  earlier  times,  took  "  the  charge 
of  ten  or  twelve  Familyes  of  his  Neibour- 
hood  "  to  "diligently  inspect  them,"  he  was 
required  to  watch  licensed  houses  of  enter- 
tainment, and  to  make  complaint  of  all  dis- 
orders and  misdemeanors  discovered  therein. 
As  he  reported  to  His  Majesty's  justice  of 
the  peace  all  idle  persons,  "  prophane  swear- 
ers or  cursers  Sabath  breakers  and  the  like 
offenders,"  his  presence  in  the  tavern,  the 
shop,  or  the  store,  was  a  signal  for  silence 
and  sobriety. 

Because,  said  a  province  law,  "  bundles  of 
shingles  are  mark'd  for  a  greater  number 
than  what  they  contain,"  two  skillful  men 
were  chosen  to  see  that  neighbors  did  not 
cheat  each  other  in  trading  for  lumber.  Then, 
there  was  a  town  gauger,  appointed  to  gauge 
and  mark  all  casks  of  rum  and  molasses  ex- 
posed for  sale.  The  necessity  for  this  officer 
grew  out  of  the  "total  depravity"  of  His 
Majesty's  good  subjects,  in  whose  casks  and 
hogsheads,  said  the  law  of  1718,  "  there  hath 
been  wanting    seven    or  eight  gallons   and 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  9 1 

sometimes  more  which  persons  are  obliged  to 
pay  for," 

As  military  service  was  compulsory  upon 
men  between  sixteen  and  sixty  years  of  age, 
the  town  had  its  militia  company  and  mem- 
bers of  the  county  horse  troop  ;  and  a  military 
clerk,  who  four  times  a  year  listed  all  persons 
required  by  law  to  bear  arms  and  attend 
musters.  He  collected  fines  from  those  who 
failed  to  answer  the  roll-calls  on  training 
days.  Those  who  did  not  pay  the  fines  were 
punished  by  being  made  to  lie  neck  and  heels 
together,  or  to  ride  the  wooden  horse. 

Other  officers  of  the  town  were  a  cattle- 
pound  keeper,  who  lived  by  fees  ;  a  sheep- 
yarder,  who  yarded  stray  sheep,  "  if  they  be 
not  badgd,"from  December  to  March,  at  two- 
pence a  head  and  expenses  of  keeping;  a 
man  "  to  Tack  care  of  the  meeting  House  and 
Sweep  the  Saim,"  and  "  to  keep  the  dores  & 
windows  shet."  Wardens  were  chosen,  "  to 
Inspect  ye  meeting  Hous  on  ye  Lord's  Day 
and  see  to  Good  Order  among  ye  Boys  ;  "  for 
it  was  customary  to  separate  children  from 
their  parents,  to  place  them  together  in  un- 
comfortable seats,  and  to  set  inspectors  over 
them.     If  they  were  discovered  laughing  or 


92    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

playing  during  the  time  of  public  worship, 
the  wardens  complained  of  them  to  His  Ma- 
jesty's justice  of  the  peace,  who  inflicted 
punishment  according  to  law.  Gamekeepers 
were  annually  chosen,  whose  duty  was  to 
prevent  the  untimely  killing  of  deer,  or  hunt- 
ing them  when  they  were  imprisoned  in 
corries  by  deep  snows.  The  town  clerk  said 
in  his  records  that  they  are  "To  Bee  the  men 
for  Prevesation  of  the  Deare  for  the  yeare 
Insuing." 

The  office  of  constable  was  of  high  reputa- 
tion, and,  as  in  old  Saxon  times,  so  now,  it 
was  intended  that  only  those  should  have  it 
who  were  "  honest  and  able  men  both  in  body 
and  estate  and  not  of  the  meaner  sort." 
Every  constable,  said  a  Plymouth  Colony  law, 
"shall  have  a  Black  Staffe  tip't  with  Brasse 
as  a  Badge  of  his  office  which  as  he  hath  op- 
portunity he  shall  take  with  him  when  he 
goeth  to  discharge  any  part  of  his  office."  He 
was  therefore  popularly  known  by  the  irrev- 
erent as  tipstaff.  He  gathered  the  taxes  al- 
lotted for  general  expenses  of  the  town,  and 
those  allotted  for  support  of  the  minister. 
The  warrant  for  town  meeting  was  addressed 
to  him  by  the  selectmen.     It  ran:  "In  his 


THE   TO  WATS  MIND.  93 

Majesties  name  to  Require  you  to  notifie  the 
Freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  QualHfied 
as  the  Law  Directs  to  vote  in  Town  Meeting 
that  they  meet  and  assemble  themselves  to- 
gether at  the  meeting  House  to  know  the 
Town's  Mind  "  in  regard  to  the  various  ques- 
tions stated  in  the  warrant.  This  document 
was  copied  in  the  town  book  to  establish  the 
authenticity  of  the  meeting ;  and  the  consta- 
ble therein  certified  that  he  had  notified  the 
inhabitants  "  by  setting  up  the  warrant  at  the 
meeting  House,"  by  which  he  meant  that  he 
had  nailed  it  upon  the  principal  door  of  that 
building,  where  everybody  could  read  it  on 
Sunday. 

No  one  sought  the  office  of  constable,  but 
whoever  was  elected  was  required  to  accept 
it,  or  to  pay  the  fine  fixed  by  law  for  refusing 
to  take  the  oath.  In  1751  a  town  meeting 
was  adjourned  six  times  to  elect  men  who 
would  consent  to  take  the  constable's  oath  of 
office,  and  David  Besse  was  chosen  to  prose- 
cute "  delinquent  constables  "  on  behalf  of  the 
town.  It  was  necessary  for  the  Town's  Mind 
to  be  lenient  in  dealing  with  this  antipathy  to 
the  office;  therefore  the  fine  imposed  upon 
Benjamin  Fearing  "for  being  delinquent  in 


94   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

the  office  of  constable"  was  remitted  on  con- 
dition that  he  procured  a  substitute.  In  1752 
Butler  Wing,  being  elected  constable,  refused 
to  serve ;  whereupon  he  was  prosecuted,  and 
he  gave  his  promissory  note  for  the  amount 
of  the  fine.  He  appealed  repeatedly  to  be 
excused  from  the  debt ;  but  the  Town's  Mind 
was  unmoved,  and  in  1755  it  directed  the 
clerk  to  enter  upon  the  book  its  decision,  that 
it  would  "not  a  Bate  mr  Butler  Wing  any 
Part  of  the  money  that  he  gave  a  note  for  for 
his  Refusing  to  Sarve  in  the  office  of  Consta- 
ble when  chosen  by  the  Town  in  ye  year 
1752."  The  sequel  of  this  matter  is  found  in 
the  town  treasurer's  records  of  1756,  viz.  :  "I 
have  Reseved  a  fine  paid  by  Butler  Wing  for 
not  Sarving  Constable  in  the  Town  of  Ware- 
ham  2  pounds  14  Shillings." 

Of  all  the  town  officers  the  selectmen  were 
chief.  There  were  three  of  them  chosen 
annually  to  direct  prudential  affairs,  holding 
sessions  at  the  tavern,  where  they  usually  sat 
the  day  out,  having  the  town  clerk  at  hand  to 
record  their  orders,  served  with  victuals  and 
grog  at  the  town's  cost,  and  regarded  by  their 
host  with  a  respect  due  to  servants  of  the 
King.     They  prepared  business  for  the  town 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  95 

meetings  and  nominated  town  officers  for 
election.  They  looked  up  undesirable  resi- 
dents and  were  active  (to  quote  the  records 
of  1767)  in  "  worning  Pepel  oot  of  Town."  In 
1768  they  sent  Jeams  Baker  out  of  town  at  a 
cost  of  fifteen  shillings ;  Nathan  Bump  was 
exported  at  a  cost  of  six  shillings  ;  eight  shil- 
lings were  paid  for  carrying  away  "a  black 
child ; "  and  Elisha  Burgess  received  twenty 
shillings  for  carting  out  a  whole  family. 
Rams  were  in  higher  favor  than  these  friend- 
less sojourners.  They  had  the  freedom  of  the 
town  until  1781,  when  it  was  ordered  that 
they  "shall  be  taken  in"  by  the  ist  of  Sep- 
tember. But  as  they  continued  to  stand  at 
the  street  corners,  the  Town's  Mind,  rose  in 
anger,  and  declared  that  "  if  a  Ram  goes  at 
large  the  owner  shall  pay  a  dollar  to  him  that 
takes  up  said  Ram." 

The  selectmen  offered  to  the  town  meeting 
a  variety  of  subjects  for  consideration.  Some 
related  to  the  extermination  of  foxes,  crows, 
and  other  farm  pests;  to  the  protection  of 
oyster  fishing  ;  to  the  catching  and  selling  of 
alewives  ;  to  the  acceptance  of  highways  and 
the  building  of  bridges;  to  repairs  of  the 
meeting-house;  to  the   minister's  salary  and 


96    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

the  ministry  lands ;  to  the  herding  of  sheep 
and  yoking  of  hogs  on  the  commons  ;  to  such 
questions  as  "  what  amount  of  money  is  to  be 
raised  for  defraying  necessary  expenses  ; " 
whether  the  town  "will  have  a  school  this 
year;"  or  will  choose  a  representative  at  the 
Great  and  General  Court  appointed  to  be  con- 
vened for  His  Majesty's  service  in  Boston ; 
or  will  make  new  irons  for  the  town  stocks  ; 
or  a  new  whipping-post.  Some  measures  dis- 
cussed were  medical,  as  "  not  to  have  Small 
Pox  set  up  by  Inoculation  ;  "  some  were  con- 
vivial, as  "To  pay  Joshua  Gibbs  for  two  bowls 
of  Grog  "  drunk  while  on  the  town's  service ; 
some  were  pathetic,  as  "  voted  for  makeing  a 
Coffen  for  Alice  Reed  ten  shillings  —  for  her 
Winding  Sheat  three  and  four  pence — for 
digging  her  grave  three  shillings ; "  to  pay 
"the  Wido  Debre  Savery  for  Fethers  she  Put 
in  Jemima  Wing's  bed  when  Sick  Six  Shil- 
lings ; "  to  pay  "  Six  Shillings  to  Sam"  Savery 
for  his  Trouble  and  care  of  John  Pennerine." 
This  last-named  beneficiary  was  one  of  a 
large  number  of  poor,  ignorant,  and  super- 
stitious peasants,  prisoners  from  Acadia,  kin 
of  Evangeline  and  Gabriel  Lajeunesse,  who 
were   billeted  upon  the  towns  of  Massachu- 


THE   TOWN'S  MIND.  97 

setts  by  orders  of  the  royal  Governor  and 
Council,  like  the  following,  dated  1757  :  "  To 
remove  John  Pelerine  Wife  and  Children, 
supposed  to  be  Five  in  Number  a  Family 
of  French  Neutrals  to  the  Town  of  Ware- 
ham,  and  that  the  Select  Men  of  the  Town 
of  Wareham  be  and  hereby  are  directed  to 
receive  them  and  provide  for  them." 

Alice  Reed,  whose  coffin,  winding-sheet, 
and  grave  thus  cost  the  town  sixteen  shillings 
and  four  pence,  had  been  one  of  the  town's 
poor,  annually  put  out  by  the  selectmen  to  be 
kept  at  public  expense.  How  to  dispose  of 
such  people  was  a  subject  which  periodically 
exercised  the  Town's  Mind,  and  it  was  doubt- 
less a  consolation  to  know  that  some  of  the 
oaths  and  curses  uttered  in  public  had  been 
turned  by  His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace 
into  shillings  for  their  benefit,  as  the  law  di- 
rected. They  began  to  call  for  support  in 
1746,  when  the  town  paid  :Q\2  for  keeping 
"Jane  Bump  so  called  with  victuals  and 
cloaths."  The  next  year  she  was  returned  to 
the  selectmen,  who,  not  knowing  what  to  do 
with  her,  pressed  the  town  *'  to  do  Sumthing 
for  ye  Support  of  Geen  Bump."  In  1754 
appeared  the  widow  Reliance  Bumpus,  who 


98    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

placed  her  whole  reliance  upon  the  town 
treasury  for  twenty  years.  A  short  time  be- 
fore she  had  enjoyed  a  merited  credit  with 
her  neighbors,  in  regard  to  which  the  old  ac- 
count-book testifies  as  follows  :  "  November 
ye  24  175 1  ye  widow  Reliance  bumpus  Dr 
for  16  pounds  of  porck  i  bushall  of  corn  and 
I  gallon  of  malases  and  i  pound  of  Ches  "  — 
"July  1752  Reconed  with  Relyanc  bumpus 
and  all  accounts  balanced."  Her  widowhood 
was  soon  followed  by  poverty,  and  then  she 
turned  to  the  selectmen  for  help.  John 
Bishop,  the  town  clerk,  says  :  — 

"  When  the  votable  inhabitance  convened  in 
His  Majesties  name  September  24,  1754  John 
Bumpus  ye  3d  Came  Into  ye  meeting  and  maid 
the  offer  ye  town  that  he  would  Keep  ye  widow 
Reliance  Bumpus  one  year  Kuming  for  six  Pounds 
Thirteen  Shillings  and  four  Pence  Lawfull  money 
and  ye  Mordarator  Put  it  to  vote  to  know  ye  Mind 
of  ye  town  whether  they  ware  willing  to  allow  ye 
sd  Jno  Bumpus  ye  3d  the  money  he  asked  to  keep 
ye  aforesd  widow  one  year  and  ye  vote  Past  in  the 
Affarmative." 

Thus  the  poor  widows  Bump  and  Bumpus, 
descendants  of  Edward  Bompasse,  who  came 
to  Plymouth  in  the  little  ship  "Fortune"  from 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  99 

London  in  1621,  secured  a  place  in  recorded 
history.  Many  poor  widows  achieved  the 
same  distinction,  and  became  their  compan- 
ions at  the  public  crib.  A  warrant  for  a 
town  meeting  in  1757  stated  a  wish  "To 
know  the  Towns  Mind  whether  they  will  do 
anything  for  the  Support  of  Sarah  Chubbuck 
it  being  the  Desire  of  her  Brother  Benjamin  " 
—  a  request  which  suggests  that  family  pride 
in  this  respect  was  not  a  virtue  universally 
appreciated.  In  the  same  year  others  joined 
the  poor  widows'  band,  among  whom  was 
Jane  George,  who  became  famous  inasmuch 
as  she  participated  in  its  joys  and  sorrows 
for  fifty  years. 

The  prices  at  which  the  poor  widows  were 
farmed  out  varied  annually,  but  in  1770  their 
value  was  uniform  at  £,1  each  per  ammm, 
taken  as  they  ran.  Their  keeping  was  so 
profitable,  in  services  rendered  by  them,  as 
to  induce  the  town  to  vote  repeatedly  "  Not 
to  build  a  poor-house,"  and  a  convenient  plan 
for  disposing  of  them  was  adopted  :  it  was  to 
sell  them  at  auction.  At  a  town  meeting  in 
1776  it  was  voted,  "to  vandue  the  Widow 
Lovell."  She  was  accordingly  set  up  by  the 
selectmen,  and,  as  the  records  state,   "  was 


lOO     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

Struck  of  to  Josiah  Stevens  for  to  keep 
one  year  for  the  Sum  of  nine  pounds  Six 
shillings  &  if  She  did  not  live  the  year  in  he 
to  have  in  that  proportion."  But  she  lived 
"  the  year  in,"  and  continued  to  appear  at  the 
annual  auction.  In  1782  the  town  voted  to 
buy  her  a  shirt,  and  then  sold  her  again. 
After  transfers  to  various  homes,  her  death  is 
disclosed  in  this  record  of  September,  1784: 
"  Voted  for  a  winding  sheet  and  a  shift  for 
the  Widow  Lovell  eight  shillings."  And  that 
was  the  end  of  her.  But  Jane  George  lived 
on,  and  into  the  next  century,  surviving  all 
her  numerous  contemporaries.  She  began  to 
be  one  of  the  town's  poor  in  1757  ;  she  was 
set  up  at  vendue  for  the  last  time  in  1808, 
when,  before  she  passed  from  the  public 
stage,  dilapidated  as  she  undoubtedly  was, 
the  town  voted  to  pay  "  for  Extra  Mending 
Jane  George  four  dollars." 

Not  every  one  who  came  to  town  meeting 
was  allowed  to  vote  there.  The  laws  of 
1692  described  qualified  voters  as  owners  of 
real  estate  in  fee  simple,  and  "inhabitants 
who  are  ratable  at  twenty  pounds  estate." 
In  1743  the  laws  compelled  voters  to  be  per- 
sonally present  at  the  meeting,  and  all  could 


THE    TOWN'S  MIND.  lOI 

vote  on  town  matters  who  had  a  ratable 
estate  of  ;^20  value  in  the  town ;  but  at  the 
election  of  a  representative  to  the  Great  and 
General  Court  at  Boston,  only  those  could 
vote  who  owned  a  landed  estate  yielding  an 
annual  income  of  forty  shillings  "  at  the 
least."  This  qualification  was  fixed  by  the 
charter  of  William  and  Mary,  and  it  is  wor- 
thy of  note  that  the  same  ruled  in  the  town 
of  Kingston-upon-Hull,  incorporated  in  the 
year  1439  by  Henry  VI,  "To  remedy  the 
great  evils  arising  from  the  elections  being 
made  by  outrageous  and  excessive  numbers 
of  people  dwelling  in  the  counties,  most  part 
of  small  substance,  pretending  to  have  a 
voice  equivalent  to  the  most  worthy  knights 
and  esquires." 

The  colonial  town  meeting  was  a  primary 
and  not  a  representative  assembly  ;  the  law 
declared  that  "  no  matter  or  thing  shall  be 
voted  or  determined  but  what  is  inserted  in 
the  warrant  "  for  calling  it.  As  it  recognized 
no  distinction  of  persons,  disorders  were  fre- 
quent. A  law  of  1 71 5  gave  special  powers 
to  the  moderator  because,  as  the  law  said, 
"  by  reason  of  the  disorderly  carriage  of 
some  persons  in  said  meetings  the  business 


102    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

thereof  is  very  much  retarded  and  ob- 
structed." And  it  was  sometimes  necessary, 
when  weighty  matters  were  to  be  consid- 
ered, to  make  a  registry  of  the  names  of 
those  who  had  a  title  to  vote ;  as  in  Septem- 
ber, 1774,  when  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  in 
force,  the  town  of  Wareham  chose  a  commit- 
tee "  to  join  with  the  selectmen  to  make  out 
a  list  and  say  who  should  vote  in  town  meet- 
ing." 

In  many  respects  the  colonial  town  meet- 
ing—  always  held  in  the  meeting-house  — 
resembled  the  parish  meeting  of  Old  Eng- 
land, always  held  in  the  nave  of  the  church. 
The  selectmen,  as  trustees  of  the  town,  ad- 
ministered its  income  and  rendered  an  ac- 
count of  receipts  and  expenses  to  the  annual 
town  meeting ;  so  the  churchwardens,  as 
trustees  of  the  parish,  rendered  their  ac- 
count of  receipts  and  expenses  to  the  annual 
meeting  of  parishioners  ;  and  in  each  place 
discussions  ensued  on  any  important  mea- 
sures done  or  proposed  by  the  trustees. 
The  accounts  of  the  "  Chyrchewardens  of 
North  Elmham,"  from  the  year  1539  to  the 
year  1577,  show  payments  of  money,  for  the 
welfare  of  the  town,  identical  in  character 


THE   TOWN'S  MIND.  103 

with  payments  made  two  hundred  years  later 
by  the  selectmen  of  Wareham.  When  a 
bridge  was  to  be  built  the  churchwardens 
hired  a  woodcutter  to  fell  an  oak-tree  in  the 
park,  then  a  sawyer  to  saw  the  oak  into  tim- 
bers, then  a  digger  to  dig  a  pit  under  the 
felled  oak,  for  the  run  of  the  saw.  All  this 
is  told  in  the  Chyrchwarden's  accounts  :  — 

—  "A.  D.  1545  payed  to  Roger  Hamonde 
for  felling  of  an  ocke  in  y^  peke  for  y^ 
mendying  of  y^  brydge  by  Rudds  .         .        3d. 

payed  to  Robert  Barchham  for  y^  sawying 
of  y«  Tree  wherewith  was  made  y« 
brydge  by  Rudds 7s.  8d. 

payed  for  ye  makying  of  a  pytt  to  saw  y^ 

seyd  tree 4d," 

The  churchwardens  paid,  as  did  the  Ware- 
ham  selectmen,  for  making  a  "  payer  of 
towne  stocks  ; "  for  carting  gravel  to  mend 
"  y^  noysome  wayes  within  y^  town  ;  "  for 
**  foxes  heades  according  to  ye  statute  and 
polecattes  and  a  wild  cattes  hed.''  In  the 
year  1546  they  paid  for  "makying  of  y^ 
Chyrche  door  keye  &  mending  of  y«  locke  ;  " 
and  likewise,  in  the  year  1748,  did  the  select- 
men of  Wareham  pay  "  for  a  lock  and  kee 
for  ye  meeting  hous." 


VII. 


IMPRESSMENTS    FOR   THE   KING. 


ESS  than  two  years  had  passed,  after 
the  organization  of  the  town,  when 
warrants  to  impress  men  into  the 
King's  military  and  naval  service  were  re- 
ceived by  the  captain  of  the  town's  militia 
company.  Impressment  was  not  a  new 
thing.  A  line  written  on  the  inside  of  the 
cover  of  Israel  Fearing's  book  reads :  "  May 
the  26  in  1707  I  was  preesed  to  the  easel  for 
6  mounth  ; "  referring  to  his  impressment 
into  Queen  Anne's  military  service  at  "  her 
majesty's  Castle  William  "  on  Castle  Island 
in  Boston  harbor ;  which  fortification  was  at 
that  time  garrisoned  by  "  impressing  men's 
sons  and  servants  every  spring." 

Impressment  was  a  grievance,  and  yet 
there  was  a  plenty  of  law  for  it.  Although 
it  had  not  been  directly  authorized  by  act 
of  Parliament,  it  was  recognized  as  lawful  in- 


IMPRESSMENTS  FOR    THE  KING.       105 

asmuch  as  there  were  acts  which  made  pro- 
vision for  the  exemption  of  certain  persons 
from  impressment  to  which  they  would  other- 
wise have  been  subject.  Moreover  the  earli- 
est laws  of  Massachusetts  provided  for  "  Im- 
presses "  of  laborers,  cattle,  goods,  soldiers, 
and  sailors ;  and  the  way  to  do  it  was  de- 
scribed by  the  Great  and  General  Court  from 
time  to  time  during  the  entire  period  of  co- 
lonial legislation.  The  laws  authorized  im- 
pressments of  laborers  and  artificers  for 
public  works ;  of  goods  and  cattle  for  public 
service ;  of  sailors  and  soldiers  from  the 
militia  for  wars  conducted  by  act  of  the  co- 
lonial legislature.  They  exempted  from  im- 
pressments men  who  were  suffering  from 
"any  natural  or  personal  impediment,  as 
want  of  years,  greatness  of  years,  defect  of 
minde,  failing  of  senses,  or  impotency  of 
limbs."  Members  of  the  Provincial  Council, 
representatives  at  the  Great  and  General 
Court  and  judges  of  assize,  while  in  office, 
were  allowed  by  the  law  of  1704  to  "enjoy 
the  priviledge  of  having  one  son  or  servant 
exempted  and  freed  from  all  impresses." 

Each  person  liable   to   impressment  was 
required  to  appear  himself  or  by  a  substitute 


I06     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

at  the  time  and  place  appointed,  on  pain  of 
suffering  imprisonment,  unless  he  paid  down 
within  two  hours  the  fine  fixed  by  law. 
Those  who  paid  the  fine  or  who  procured 
substitutes  were  to  be  "  esteemed  as  persons 
that  have  served."  Soldiers  were  impressed 
for  the  Indian  wars  as  well  as  for  wars  in  the 
succeeding  century  ;  and  extraordinary  favors 
were  sometimes  expected  by  those  who  re- 
turned home  after  having  served  their  King 
in  this  compulsory  manner.^ 

There  was  of  course  a  natural  desire  to 
escape  impressments,  and  it  was  favored  by 
physicians'  certificates  of  inability  to  serve, 
which  were  easily  obtained.  These  means, 
employed  "  by  divers  persons  fit  and  able  for 
service,"  were  described  by  the  legislature  as 
"corrupt  and  fallacious  "  certificates  written 
by  "some  practitioners  in  chirurgery."  Many 
who  failed  to  get  the  fallacious  certificates 
ran  away.  The  laws,  having  recited  the  fact 
that  "  the  ablest  and  fittest  for  service  have 
absconded  and  hid  themselves  from  the  im- 

1  Sept.  6,  1746,  Barnabas  Bates  and  Ebenezer  Perry,  Jr., 
asked,  in  town  meeting,  to  be  excused  "  from  paying  Rates 
the  Ensuing  year  by  Reason  of  their  being  on  the  Expetli- 
tion  at  Cape  Britton  the  Last  year." —  Wareham  Records. 


IMPRESSMENTS  FOR   THE  KING.       lO/ 

press,"  gave  authority  to  public  officers  to 
pursue  the  fugitives,  and  to  levy  a  tax  of  five 
pounds  upon  their  "  body  goods  or  chattels." 
As  Massachusetts  by  the  charter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  had  power  to  enact  such  laws 
only  as  were  "  not  repugnant  or  contrary  to 
the  Lawes  of  this  our  Realme  of  England," 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  all  impressment 
laws  of  the  province  were  of  this  character. 
But  they  were  often  executed  in  a  despotic 
manner.  In  1757  the  Provincial  Council 
directed  the  sheriff  of  Suffolk  County  "to 
Impress  Thirty  Seamen  for  Manning  the 
Snow  Prince  of  Wales  as  soon  as  may  be ; " 
and  in  1759  the  General  Court  authorized 
the  captain  general  "to  impress  out  of  the 
inward  bound  Vessels  so  many  Seamen  as 
to  make  up  the  Compliment  of  Men  to  com- 
pleat  the  number  allowed  to  man  the  Ship 
King  George."  The  inhabitants  of  Boston 
frequently  protested  against  the  "  oppressive 
manner  before  unknown  to  Englishmen  and 
attended  with  tragical  consequences,"  in 
which  impressment  warrants  were  executed. 
It  could  be  said  of  the  officers  of  the  law 
that,  like  Falstaff,  they  "  misused  the  King's 
press  most  damnably,"  thereby  causing  riots, 


I08     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

and  compelling  the  governor  to  promise  that 
impressments  should  be  stopped. 

There  was  reason  for  the  farmers  of  Ware- 
ham  to  be  alarmed  when  the  King's  ship  (or 
snow)  came  up  Buzzard's  Bay  in  1741,  and 
again  in  1742,  and  sent  warrants  to  the  cap- 
tain of  the  militia  to  impress  men  into  the 
King's  service.  Although  some  took  to  the 
woods,  none  offered  resistance.  In  Israel 
Fearing's  book  are  written  the  names  of  his 
townsmen  who  were  impressed  at  various 
times  between  the  years  1740  and  1748,  to 
assist  in  carrying  on  the  wars  of  England 
against  France  and  Spain  :  — 

"April,  1740  Robert  Bese  impresed  and  Na- 
than Brigg's  man ;  and  Nathan  Briggs  gave 
Robert  Bese  fifteen  pounds  old  tener  for  half  a 
man  and  Robert  Bese  went  to  the  Estward. 

"May  1741  Josiah  Cunit  Impresed  to  goon 
bord  ye  snow  And  he  Recived  ten  pounds  in 
mony. 

"  And  Edward  Bump  paid  him  5  pounds  for  his 
sons. 

*'  And  John  bump  y^  3  two  pounds. 

"  And  After  hadawa  two  pounds  for  his  sun. 

"  And  Joseph  doty  one  pound  for  his  sun. 

"  March  1742  Joshua  bese  Impresed  to  go  on 


IMPRESSMENTS  FOR    THE  KING.       IO9 

bord  Y  sno  and  Joseph  Landers  paid  4  pounds 
for  his  son  to  him. 

"March  1743  Noah  bump  Imprest  for  his 
magests  sarvis  and  Runaway. 

"June  1744  Jonathan  bump  Jun"- Impresed 
and  Samuel  peary  for  his  magist  sarvis  and  they 
both  went  to  the  Est  frontters. 

"  March  1745  Oliver  Nores  impresed  and  Run 
away  and  Joseph  doty  Jun  and  Run  away  Ed- 
ward bump  impresed  and  Joshua  bump.  And 
barnabas  bates  and  these  3  went  in  his  magest 
sarvis  to  cap  britan. 

"June  1745.  Ebenezer  peary  Jun  and  Jona- 
than bump  Junr  Listed  for  cap  britten  and  I  gave 
them  fouer  pounds  apeace  old  tener. 

"  Jabez  bensen  was  Impresed  and  went  to  y« 

Estward. 

"  Joshua  Gibbes  Jun  Impresed  and  paul  Ra- 
ment  and  paul  Rament  Recived  twenty  pouns  old 
tener  and  If  Either  of  these  are  Impresed  the 
other  is  to  Apear  and  go  Into  his  magestys  sar- 
vis or  Else  to  give  20  pounds  old  tener. 

"July  1746  biniamin  Chubback  Impresed  and 
gave  Noah  bump  twenty  pounds  old  ten  to  goo 
half  for  him. 

"  Samuel  peary  and  Noah  bump  impresed  to 
go  to  the  Westward  frunttery  and  Samuel  peary 
Received  40  pounds  old  ten  20  pounds  of  John 
bushap  for  his  sonn  and  ten  pounds  of  Jorg 
Whit  and  ten  pounds  of  J  oh  gibbes 


1 10     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  V. 

"Sepri746  Jonathan  Chubback  Jun  Impresed 
for  Zeccues  Bump  At  five  pounds  old  ten  Joseph 
Giford  Jun  presed  at  five  pounds  and  ten  shillings 
old  tener  for  Edward  bump  to  goo  in  his  magty 
sarves. 

"March  1748  Judah  Swift  and  Joseph  doty 
and  Edward  Rayment  Imprest  and  hired  Robart 
bese  for  55  pounds." 

The  record  shows  that  these  men  were 
equipped  for  the  service  on  which  they  were 
going  with  muskets,  halberds,  drums,  and  the 
royal  ensign  ;  and  that  opportunity  was  given 
them  to  buy  substitutes,  to  obtain  compensa- 
tion, and  even  to  run  away. 


VIII. 

THE  TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE. 

f,T  Stood  on  the  common  where  the 
flagstaff  now  stands,  a  plain  square 
building,  stained  silver-gray  by  the 
sun  and  rains.  On  its  front  side  there  was  a 
porch,  on  top  of  its  front  gable  there  was  a 
little  turret,  and  over  the  turret,  on  a  stumpy 
rod,  whirled  a  whale-shaped  wind-vane.  The 
turret  and  the  vane  gave  to  the  building  an 
air  of  humble  respectability.  Around  it  were 
a  few  oak-trees,  outposts  of  the  primeval 
forest  which  extended  behind  it  to  the  shore 
of  the  bay,  a  mile  distant.  In  front  was  the 
principal  highway  of  tho  region,  called  by  the 
earliest  settlers  "ye  contry  rode."  It  was 
along  this  way  that  Englishmen  of  Plymouth 
drove  their  cattle  to  the  Mattapoiset  necks  to 
be  wintered,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1655,  and 
over  the  same  path  English  soldiers  traveled 
in  1676  to  attack  the  Indian  King  Philip.     A 


I  I  2     COLONIAL   TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

way  branched  from  it  to  some  meadows  and 
houses  on  Cromeset  Neck;  where  three  chim- 
ney stacks  may  yet  be  seen,  in  the  woods,  the 
only  relics  of  those  seaside  homes  of  the 
parish.  The  Woonkinco  River  was  so  near 
the  meetinghouse  that  the  hum  of  its  grist- 
mill could  have  been  heard  above  the  voice  of 
the  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  if  the  miller  had 
been  allowed  to  run  his  grindstones  on  Sun- 
day. Beyond  the  river  was  that  stretch  of 
verdant  meadows  which  had  given  the  name 
of  Fresh-meadow  Village  to  the  small  settle- 
ment in  the  neighborhood. 

The  Agawame  planters  began  to  build  the 
meeting-house  in  the  year  1735.  It  was  a 
private  undertaking  by  a  few  farmers,  who  got 
their  sustenance  from  the  soil  and  from  the 
sea,  their  clothing  from  sheep's  wool  carded 
and  spun  at  home,  and  who,  for  trade,  made 
tar  and  gathered  turpentine  in  the  pine 
forests.  As  times  were  hard,  because  the 
current  paper-money  of  the  province  was 
almost  valueless,  the  undertaking  dragged 
heavily  on  their  hands.  Four  years  later 
they  were  glad  to  turn  it  over  to  their  new- 
made  town,  which  immediately  levied  a  tax 
upon   them  wherewith    to   finish   it.     In  the 


THE   TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        1 13 

records  the  tax  was  called  "the  meeting  hous 
Rat."  Some  paid  the  "  Rat "  with  labor, 
some  paid  it  with  lumber,  some  with  nails 
wrought  in  the  home  smithies,  some  with 
farm  products  which  were  exchanged  for 
labor ;  for  example,  Uriah  Savery  gave  "  ^6 
pounds  of  beef  toward  building  ye  meeting 
hous  at  6  pence  a  pound." 

As  soon  as  it  was  habitable  for  public  wor- 
ship the  town  appointed  agents  "  to  sell  ye 
Spots  for  Pues,"  and  chose  two  serious  men 
to  police  the  Sunday  services.  It  was  the 
duty  of  these  men  to  watch  all  playful  boys 
and  girls,  especially  boys,  whom  the  elders  of 
Duxbury  had  publicly  stigmatized  as  "  the 
wretched  boys  on  the  Lord's  day."  By  com- 
mon opinion  they  were  regarded  as  an  annoy- 
ance to  the  minister  and  an  offense  to  the 
gravity  of  the  town. 

It  was  a  small  meeting-house,  but  it  had 
more  than  one  door,  as  appears  from  the  elec- 
tion of  a  man  to  sweep  it  "  and  unlock  the 
Doores."  It  was  customary  in  those  times 
not  only  to  separate  men  from  women  and 
boys  from  girls  in  seating  the  congregation, 
but  to  provide  separate  doors  for  them  ;  there- 
fore the  little  house  had  a  great  door  for  men 


114     COLONIAL   TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

on  its  front,  and  two  small  doors  on  opposite 
sides,  of  which  one  was  for  women  and  the 
other  was  probably  for  symmetry. 

The  sweeping  and  the  locking  it  were  sub- 
jects which  exercised  the  Town's  Mind  annu- 
ally;  and  although  the  doorkeeper's  emolu- 
ment had  been  twenty-five  shillings  old  tenor 
a  year,  which  was  equivalent  to  nearly  two 
dollars  in  silver,  the  town  was  willing  to  pay 
more  for  a  better  service.  It  is  recorded  that, 
at  a  town  meeting  in  1747,  "Ye  modarater 
Pute  to  vote  whether  the  town  would  Give 
Sam"  Savery  forty  Shillings  old  teener  to 
Sweep  and  keep  the  kce  of  the  meeting  hous 
ye  Insuing  year  and  It  Past  In  in  the  affearm- 
itive  and  ye  sd  Sam"  accepted." 

But  in  1748  the  said  Samuel  was  no  longer 
the  town's  doorkeeper.  The  compensation 
was  increased  to  sixty  shillings,  and  Ichabod 
Samson  was  chosen  for  the  service.  Instead 
of  keeping  the  key  he  lost  it,  compelling  the 
selectmen  to  put  into  the  tax  levy  seven 
shillings  and  sixpence  "  for  a  Lock  and  kce 
for  ye  meeting  hous."  Notwithstanding  this 
loss  Ichabod  continued  in  charge ;  but  in 
1754  his  meagre  salary  was  cut  down.  There 
was  some  reason  for  the  cutting  :  the  Great 


THE   TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        II5 

and  General  Court  at  Boston  had  established 
a  silver  currency,  and  shillings  were  worth 
more  than  they  had  been.  Besides,  he  had 
begun  to  show  that  carelessness  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  which  a  long  tenure  of 
office  is  apt  to  beget.  He  had  neglected  to 
use  his  broom,  and  had  fallen  into  the  habit 
of  locking  people  in  the  meeting-house  on 
Sundays,  or  of  locking  them  out  of  it  ;  for  a 
town  meeting  gave  him  positive  orders  "  To 
open  ye  dores  &  shutt  them  when  wanted," 
and  it  directed  him  to  sweep  the  house  once 
a  month,  the  general  expectation  being  that 
he  was  to  sweep  it  "  so  often  as  there  shalbe 
ocation  to  keep  it  deesent." 

It  needed  a  great  deal  of  sweeping.  There 
were  days  when  the  doors  were  swinging 
open,  inviting  all  wandering  sheep,  dogs,  and 
boys  to  explore  it.  Children  played  in  it  on 
Sunday  noons,  if  the  warden  was  out  of  sight, 
thereby  "Prophanning  the  Sabbath  in  the 
Intermission  Season,"  as  the  elders  said  ; 
while  the  latter  ate  luncheons  there,  smoked 
tobacco,  and  scattered  trash  upon  the  floor 
without  "  prophanning  "  the  place  at  all.  It 
was  used  for  town  meetings  and  for  elections, 
at  which  times  boys  climbed  into  the  pulpit 


1 16     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

and  imagined  themselves  to  be  ministers.  In 
its  loft  were  stored  the  town's  drum,  halberds, 
muskets,  ammunition,  and  the  British  colors 
which  had  been  carried  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars,  and  were  always  flaunted  through 
the  town  by  the  train-band  on  training  days.^ 
Notwithstanding  these  uses  of  the  meeting- 
house, the  people  had  some  regard  for  it. 
When  the  adjacent  common  became  a  dump- 
ing ground  for  superfluous  stones  and  a 
market-place  for  firewood,  they  ordered  that 
no  stones  shall  be  dumped  nor  wood  piled  in 
front  of  it.     When  the  rains  leaked  into  it, 

1  It  is  worth  while  to  note  the  vulgar  uses  to  which 
churches  (or  meeting-houses)  were  sometimes  put  in  Eng- 
land in  the  17  th  century,  as  showing  that  the  careless- 
ness and  disrespect  in  which  these  edifices  were  held  by 
New  England  colonists  were  inherited  from  Old  England. 
In  Bedford,  as  related  in  Brown's  Life  and  Times  of  John 
Bunyan,  a  man  got  into  trouble  for  "  folding  some  sheep  in 
the  church  during  a  snow  storm  ;  "  a  woman  for  "  hanginge 
her  lynnen  in  the  church  to  dry."  The  curate  of  the  parish 
was  presented  in  161 2  for  baiting  a  bear  in  the  church  at 
Woburn ;  the  church  wardens  of  Knotting  and  their  sons 
and  the  rector,  because  they  "  permitted  and  were  present 
at  cock  fightings  in  the  chancel! ;  "  and  the  rector  of  Carlton, 
because  "  immediately  before  service  he  did  lead  his  horse 
in  at  the  south  doore  into  the  chancell  of  the  church  where 
he  sett  him  and  there  continued  all  the  time  of  said  service 
and  sermon." 


THE    TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        WJ 

they  voted  to  put  •'  some  scattering  shinggles 
on  the  roof."  Once  they  bought  a  pulpit 
"cushing."  In  1764  they  altered  "  the  front 
Gallery  so  the  men  has  the  whole  of  it  to  Set 
in;"  and  in  1767  they  appropriated  four 
pounds,  equivalent  to  thirteen  dollars  and 
thirty-three  cents,  "  for  Doing  ye  meeting 
hous  and  for  a  Suppolidge,"  —  whatever  that 
strange  thing  may  have  been.  Moreover,  His 
Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace,  a  rugged 
farmer  whose  loyalty  to  the  King  was  bred 
in  his  bones,  fined  all  boys  and  girls  who 
laughed  in  it  during  the  time  of  worship. 
This  worthy  opened  his  court  records  in  1755 
with  these  writings  :  — 

"  Deborah  Bergs  hath  paid  me  as  a  fine  for  Lafing 
in  the  Wareham  meeting  house  on  the  Sabarth 
day  In  the  time  of  Publick  Devine  Sarvice  By  the 
hand  of  Ebnezer  Brigs  5  Shillings  " 

"  Hanah  Elis  hath  paid  me  as  a  fine  for  Breach  of 
Sabath  for  Lafing  in  the  meeting  house  on  the 
Lords  Day  In  the  time  of  Devine  Sarvice  By  the 
hand  of  Rholand  Benson  5  Shillings  " 

Everybody  in  the  town,  whether  living  near 
the  meeting-house  or  far  from  it,  went  to  the 
Sunday   services.    A  celebrated  petition   to 


I  1 8     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

the  King,  in  173 1,  from  the  rector  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  Boston,  "  most  humbly 
informs  your  Majesty  that  it  is  very  common 
for  the  people  in  New  England  to  go  ten  or 
fifteen  miles  to  Church."  This  custom  filled 
the  seats  of  the  Wareham  meeting-house  so 
full  that  some  worshipers  must  bring  chairs, 
which  they  placed  wherever  there  was  an 
open  space  on  the  floor.  The  chairs  became 
an  annoyance  to  the  pew-owners,  the  aristoc- 
racy of  the  place,  who  in  1757  got  an  order 
from  the  town  "  to  clear  the  Alleys  of  the 
meeting  Hous  of  chairs  and  all  other  Incum- 
brances." Whether  the  ousted  worshipers 
stood  during  the  services  thereafter,  or  seated 
themselves  on  doorsteps  and  window  sills,  the 
records  say  not. 

Religion  filled  a  large  space  in  the  thoughts 
and  in  the  laws  of  the  province.^     The  laws 

1  A  prolonged  observance  of  the  Sabbath  continued  to  be 
the  custom  in  New  England  until  the  influence  of  railroads 
broke  it  up. 

"  I  remember  being  despatched  when  a  lad  one  Saturday  afternoon  in 
the  winter,  to  bring  home  a  few  bushels  of  apples  engaged  of  a  farmer  a 
mile  distant ;  how  the  careful  exact  man  looked  first  at  the  clock,  then 
out  of  the  window  at  the  sun,  and  turning  to  me  said  : '  I  cannot  measure 
out  the  applet  in  time  for  you  to  get  home  before  sundown  ;  you  must 
come  again  Monday.'" — Rev.  Horace  Biishnell,  at  Litchfield,  Conn., 
in  1851. 


THE   TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        II9 

directed  that  the  Sabbath  time  shall  begin  at 
the  going-down  of  Saturday's  sun  and  shall 
continue  through  the  evening  of  Sunday.  On 
Saturday  evening  the  usual  labors  of  the 
household  were  suspended,  and  when  Sunday 
dawned  preparations  were  made  to  go  to  the 
meeting-house.  Then  traveling  and  walking 
afield  were  forbidden.  To  travel  was  not  to 
pass  from  one  town  to  another  only  ;  it  was 
also  passing  from  house  to  house  in  the  vil- 
lage. His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace  was 
within  the  instructions  of  the  law  when  he 
wrote  in  his  book  :  — 

"  May  th  10  Day  1769  then  Parsonly  appeared 
Japhath  washburn  and  acknowledged  himself  Gilty 
of  a  Breach  of  Sabbath  In  traveling  From  my 
hous  onto  Zaphanier  Bumps  on  the  16  Day  of 
april  on  a  arond  To  Git  Benjamin  Benson  to 
worck  for  him  and  he  hath  paid  Ten  Shillings  as 
a  Fine  To  me  John  Fearing  Justis  of  peace  " 

Nor  can  the  hay  be  winrowed  on  Sunday, 
nor  may  children  pick  apples  in  the  orchards. 
The  same  justice  wrote  in  his  book  :  — 

"  September  th  5  Day  1772  personly  appeared 
William  Estes  and  acknowledged  him  Self  Gilty  of 
Racking  hay  on  The  First  Day  of  the  week  or 
Lords  Day  and  paid  Fine  Ten  Shillings  to  me  " 


120     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

"July  th  27  1774  then  Elizabeth  Mosse  paid  Five 
Shillings  For  her  son  Job  for  a  breach  of  Sabath 
for  puling  aples  in  Benjamin  Fearing's  orchard 
complained  of  by  Ebenezer  Swift  warden  to  me  " 

Religion  was  also  the  romance  of  the 
people.  The  humor  and  pathos  of  Bunyan's 
story  depicting  the  progress  of  his  pilgrims 
from  this  world  to  that  which  is  to  come 
touched  all  hearts.  It  was  the  delight  of 
their  imagination,  in  the  Sunday  twilights,  to 
follow  Christian  and  Hopeful  while  they 
crossed  the  Inchanted  Ground,  and,  entering 
the  Land  of  Beulah,  "  whose  air  was  very 
sweet  and  pleasant,"  journeyed  on  to  the 
Celestial  City ;  for  many  believed  that  they 
were  going  thither  by  the  same  way. 

To  such  a  people,  going  to  the  meeting- 
house for  divine  worship  was  a  duty  ;  to  be 
there  was  a  social  pleasure  by  which  the  duty 
was  enforced.  The  intermission  between  the 
forenoon  and  the  afternoon  service  furnished 
opportunity  for  greetings  to  those  who,  living 
on  almost  impassable  roads,  had  not  seen  each 
other  during  the  preceding  six  days.  Many 
things  were  to  be  talked  about,  some  of  which 
were  suggested  by  announcements  tacked 
upon   the   great   door  of  the  meeting-house. 


THE    TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        121 

There  they  read,  as  from  an  old  newspaper, 
of  an  intention  of  marriage  between  persons 
known  to  everybody ;  and  although  the  town- 
clerk  had  stood  up  in  the  congregation  and 
screamed  it  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  it  was  an 
endless  subject  for  comment,  especially  if  the 
woman  had  as  publicly  renounced  the  inten- 
tion —  as  women  sometimes  did.  There  they 
read  of  a  sale  at  outcry  to  come  off  during 
the  week,  and  the  wise  ones  were  asked  to 
foretell  how  much  the  property  would  fetch, 
and  to  explain  why  it  was  to  be  sold.  They 
read  of  stray  cattle  lost  or  found,  of  a  trinket 
picked  up  on  the  highway,  of  the  last  bounty 
offered  for  a  fox's  head,  of  taxes  due,  of  a 
whaling  sloop  about  to  sail  and  would  take  a 
green  hand,  of  a  townsman  going  to  Boston, 
of  the  next  town  meeting,  and  they  threshed 
out  the  questions  there  to  be  voted  upon. 
These  Sunday  noon  gatherings,  which  were 
not  unlike  the  meetings  of  a  village  club, 
supplied  not  only  news  and  gossip,  but  also 
opportunities  for  a  trade  or  a  barter  not  to  be 
neglected. 

Thus  the  Sundays  came  and  went  for 
thirty  years,  when  it  appeared  that  the  large 
congregation  must  have  a  larger  meeting- 


1 22     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  V. 

house  ;  and  the  town  having  refused  to  build 
it,  preferring  to  patch  out  the  old  one,  a  few 
townsmen  undertook  the  building.  Although 
there  had  been  migrations  to  Connecticut 
during  these  years,  the  town  had  retained 
the  natural  increase  of  its  population,  save 
what  part  death  and  the  King's  impress  had 
carried  away.  There  were  more  farms,  more 
sheep  and  neat  cattle,  more  sloops  going  to 
sea,  and  a  more  general  prosperity  than 
there  had  been.  A  forge  had  been  set  up  in 
the  woods  to  work  iron  ore  dug  from  bogs 
and  ponds ;  the  schoolmaster  had  become  a 
part  of  the  community ;  and  the  political 
strifes  in  Boston  had  hardly  been  heard  of. 

The  new  meeting-house  was  set  up  "  Nigh 
where  the  old  meeting-house  now  stands," 
as  the  location  of  the  land  given  for  it  is 
described  in  the  conveyance,  dated  "  March 
i6th  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  Majesties 
reign  annoque  Domini  1770."  No  barrels 
of  rum  were  tapped  at  its  raising,  because  it 
was  a  private  undertaking,  to  be  done  without 
waste.  The  farmers  who  built  it  followed  the 
architectural  style  of  the  old  house;  they 
knew  no  other  style,  and  used  a  part  of  the 
old   materials    in   the   new   building.     They 


THE  TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.        1 23 

were  to  repay  themselves  for  their  expenses 
from  the  sales  of  pews,  the  deeds  of  which 
ran  in  very  unscholastic  language,  showing 
how  destitute  of  a  school  education  these 
town  fathers  had  been  when  they  were  boys.^ 
Near  the  new  meeting-house  was  Benjamin 
Fearing's  inn,  which  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  had  been  the  dwelling-house  of  Isaac 
Bumpus,  the  miller.     He  had  been  a  prom- 

1  "  We  the  Subscribers  Major  part  of  the  Commity  Chosen 
by  Subscribers  of  the  New  Meeting  hous  in  Wareham  to 
build  for  them  said  Meeting  hous  agreabell  to  thear  articales 
Subscribed  to  and  to  give  to  them  a  Tittle  of  thear  pew  or 
pewes  theay  shall  Drow  by  Lott  and  it  appearing  to  ous 
that  John  Fearing  Esquire  of  Wareham  haith  Subscribed 
and  paid  to  ous  the  following  Sumes  to  Wit  the  Sum  of  Six- 
teen poundes  and  the  Sum  of  Six  pounds  Eleven  shillings 
and  Six  pence  for  the  Building  said  Meeting  hous  and  a 
further  Sum  of  four  poundes  Eight  shillings  for  a  pew  he 

Boght  of  ous  at  publick  Veandew 

We  Do  In  ower  Capacety  Intitle  to  him  the  said  John 
Fearing  Esq',  of  Wareham  the  following  pewes  which  he 
Drew  by  Lott  and  Chose  and  that  he  Boght  beeing  Num- 
bered ass  foloweth  to  wit  one  N°.  31  another  N".  54  and  the 
other  N".  43  To  him  the  said  John  Fearing  Esquire  his 
heirs  and  assigns  soo  Long  as  Shall  be  thought  proper  by 
the  said  proprity  of  Wareham  to  Continue  said  Meet  Hous 

Wareham  June  Barnabas  Bates  I  .       , 

^,      ,    ^  .  Commity  of 

ye  4:  1774.  Eben",Bnggs    \^^^^^^ 

Josiah  Carver     L. .    ^.      „       „ 
^  MeetmgHous" 

Samuel  Savery  J 


124    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

inent  man  in  the  work  of  organizing  the 
town,  was  chosen  town  treasurer,  and  in  1739 
was  appointed  by  the  church  to  settle  with 
Deacon  Hamlen,  as  the  records  state,  "  to 
see  how  he  had  disposed  of  ye  contributions." 
But  the  tables  were  turned  when,  in  1747, 
the  town  "  Chose  Decon  John  Ellis  to  Prose- 
cute Isaac  Bump  for  ye  money  that  Is  due 
from  sd  Bump  to  the  Town,"  which  he  had 
collected  while  he  was  its  treasurer.^ 

There  were  no  stage-coaches  to  pull  up 
at  the  inn,  but  travelers  on  horseback  from 
Plymouth  and  Cape  Cod,  and  those  coming 
by  sloops  from  Nantucket  and  the  Vineyard, 
rested  there.  Its  bar-room  was  a  crowded 
resort  on  town-meeting  days  ;  there  the  mili- 
tia captain  had  his  headquarters  on  training 
days,  and  all  the  year  it  was  the  home  of  the 
town's  municipal  business,  — 

"  Where  village  statesmen  talk'd  with  looks  profound, 
And  news  much  older  than  their  ale  went  round." 

Its  gardens  extended  to  the  river,  where  sea 
trout  were  to  be  caught  in  great  numbers  on 

1  The  surname  of  Edward  Bompasse  has  received  from 
his  descendants  varied  spellings,  such  as  Bumpas,  Bumpus, 
Bump.  In  a  deed  of  1793  "Jeremiah  Bump,"  for  £y:>o, 
conveys  his  old  farm  and  house  in  Wareham  to  his  "  son 
Jeremiah  Bumpus  Jr." 


THE   TOWN'S  MEETING-HOUSE.  12$ 

Spring  mornings.  Sloops  and  scows  were 
moored  a  little  way  down  the  tide,  and  families 
that  sailed  to  meeting  from  the  bay  shores 
grounded  their  boats  near  by.  From  its 
windows  could  be  seen  the  town  stocks,  in 
which  drunkards  who  had  left  their  money  in 
the  bar-room  were  seated  until  they  became 
sober,  jeered  at  meanwhile  by  the  village 
boys.  The  stock-irons  also  held  fast  at  times 
those  unfortunate  offenders  who  had  not 
money  to  pay  the  fines  imposed  upon  them 
by  His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace. 

One  November  day  in  1763  this  dignitary 
dismounted  in  front  of  the  inn  and  entered 
the  bar-room.  He  laid  aside  his  beaver  hat 
and  red  camlet  cloak  trimmed  with  fox  skins, 
and  seated  himself  by  the  great  fireplace  to 
chat  with  his  brother  the  landlord ;  when 
there  entered  a  sailor  from  a  sloop  just  ar- 
rived from  Nantucket,  who,  after  drinking  a 
grog,  became  boisterous  and  finally  profane. 
Whereupon  the  scene  was  changed.  The 
bar-room  was  transformed  into  a  court-room, 
and  this  audacious  offender  of  the  King's 
peace  was  tried,  condemned,  and  punished 
according  to  colony  law.  The  sentence  which 
placed  him  in  the  stocks  was  this  :  — 


126     COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

"  At  a  cort  held  before  John  Fearing  Esquire 
one  of  his  majesties  Justices  of  the  peace  at  the 
House  of  Benjamin  Fearing  In  Wareham  on  the 
II  of  November  1763  Jonathan  Wing  marriner 
being  Convicted  for  prefainly  Swaring  in  the 
Preasence  and  hearing  of  said  Justice  Two  prefain 
Oaths  It  is  considered  by  said  Justice  that  the 
said  Jonathan  pay  a  fine  of  Five  Shillings  for  the 
first  of  said  Oaths  and  one  Shilling  For  the  other 
to  his  majesty  For  the  use  of  the  Poor  of  Wareham 
or  In  Default  thereof  that  the  said  Jonathan  being 
a  common  sailor  shall  be  sett  in  the  Stocks  an 
Hour  and  halfe-" 

In  sight  from  the  new  meeting-house  stood 
the  whipping-post,  at  which  convicted  thieves 
were  flogged  by  a  constable,  and  tramps,  or 
persons  who  by  the  law  of  England  were 
accounted  vagabonds,  were  "  whipt  with  rodds 
so  as  it  exceed  not  fifteen  stripes." 


IX. 


A  SUNDAY  MORNING  IN  1771. 

ET  US  turn  away  from  the  whipping- 
post and  enter  into  the  new  meeting- 
house on  a  Sunday  morning  of  June 
in  the  year  1771. 

Along  the  highways,  the  green  lanes  and 
field  paths,  and  from  the  boat  landings,  come 
the  worshipers  in  family  groups,  followed 
by  their  dogs.  Some  are  on  foot,  some  are 
on  horseback,  the  wife  riding  on  a  pillion  be- 
hind her  husband,  their  youngest  child  on 
the  saddle  in  front  of  him  ;  all  are  of  one 
blood  and  of  one  faith.  Young  men  are 
carrying  their  best  homespun  coats  on  their 
arms,  and  young  women  are  carrying  their 
best  shoes  in  their  hands,  intending  to  put 
them  on  before  they  enter  the  meeting-house. 
His  Majesty's  justice  of  the  peace  comes 
in  a  dusty  shay,  drawn  by  a  stiff-limbed 
mare  that  refuses  to  quicken  her  gait  not- 


128     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARDS  BAY. 

withstanding  her  master's  repeated  objurga- 
tions, accompanied  by  a  jerk  of  the  reins,  to 
"  Git  along,  yer  old  dumb  toad ! "  The  people 
exchange  greetings  with  each  other  as  they 
arrive  at  the  doors,  and  when  the  Squire 
alights  they  salute  him  respectfully,  for  no 
man  except  the  minister  is  considered  to  be 
his  peer. 

We  enter  by  the  great  door,  whose  face  is 
covered  with  all  kinds  of  announcements  to 
the  public.  Opposite  to  us  as  we  enter  stands 
the  pulpit,  lofty  and  formidable  in  appearance. 
There  is  a  large  window  behind  it,  a  dome- 
shaped  sounding-board  above  it,  and  a  steep 
staircase  leading  up  to  its  entrance.  When 
the  minister  has  ascended  the  stairs  and  shut 
the  pulpit  door  behind  him  he  is  entirely  lost 
to  sight.  At  the  foot  of  the  pulpit  and  facing 
the  congregation  are  the  seats  of  the  deacons. 
Before  them  stands  the  communion  table, 
which  is  not  served  on  sacrament  days  with 
unfermented  wine,  as  we  know  from  an  order 
of  the  church  at  Milton  in  May,  1734,  "that 
the  Deacons  be  desired  to  provide  good 
Canary  wine  for  the  Communion  Table." 

Next  to  the  pulpit  is  the  pew  of  the  minis- 
ter's wife.     Out  of  it  a  narrow  door  opens 


A   SUNDAY  MORNING  IN  lyyi.  129 

into  a  closet  under  the  pulpit,  in  which  the 
town's  broom,  the  demijohn  of  Canary  wine, 
and  the  pewter  baptizing-basin  and  com- 
munion flagons  and  cups  are  kept.^  From 
this  pew  a  line  of  square  pews  runs  along  the 
walls  of  the  house,  around  to  the  other  side 
of  the  pulpit.  They  are  of  clearest  oak,  whose 
beauty  is  not  covered  by  paints.  They  were 
made  with  the  best  skill  of  the  village 
carpenters.  They  are  topped  by  balustrades, 
and  are  so  high  that  when  the  congregation 
is  seated  a  few  heads  only  appear  in  sight 
above  them.  Seats  are  hung  by  hinges  on 
three  sides  of  each  pew,  and  are  lifted  when 
the  worshipers   stand    up   for   long   prayers, 

^  "July  1750.  Then  Esq'  Fearing  deliYered  me  eight  pound 
(Old  tenor)  &  desired  me  with  it  to  procure  a  Flaggon  which 
he  intended  to  give  to  this  church  as  a  gift,  &  have  the  two 
first  letters  of  his  name  set  thereon,  and  if  the  money  was 
not  enough  he  would  make  it  up  to  me  when  I  had  pro- 
cured it." 

"May  6.  1752.  Our  sister  Mary  King  wife  to  Ichabod 
King  of  Rochester  presented  this  church  with  a  Bason  for 
baptism  with  the  two  first  letters  of  her  name  thereon  :  The 
church  voted  their  thanks  to  her  therefor.  And  it  was  the 
same  time  proposed  &  voted  that  I  should  have  the  old 
Bason  allowing  therefor  what  the  two  Deacons  should  Judge 
it  to  be  worth."  —  Rev''  Rowland  Thacher,  in  the  Wareham 
Church  Records. 


I30     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARUS  BAY. 

permitting  them  to  lean  against  the  parti- 
tions, where  they  get  some  assistance  in 
standing.  The  pews  are  the  upper  seats  of 
the  synagogue.  The  lower  scats  are  two 
ranges  of  benches  in  the  centre  of  the  house, 
fronting  the  pulpit  and  separated  by  the  great 
alley.  In  the  fore-scats  of  these  ranges,  elder- 
ly people  and  those  who  are  hard  of  hearing 
are  seated  ;  the  hind-seats  are  occupied  by 
younger  persons.  Of  the  same  rank  are  cer- 
tain seats  in  the  galleries,  reached  by  stairs 
in  the  corners  of  the  house. 

Mr.  Rowland  Thacher  is  the  minister.  He 
came  fresh  from  Harvard  College  to  this 
secluded  town  more  than  thirty  years  ago ; 
and  here  he  has  stayed,  occupied  in  preach- 
ing, farming,  marrying,  burying,  and  repre- 
senting all  the  scholastic  learning  of  the 
community.  It  is  said  that  he  is  not  "as 
young  as  he  used  to  be  "  ;  but  he  is  still  able 
to  sympathize  in  the  fortunes  and  misfor- 
tunes of  his  flock.  He  has  been  poorly  paid 
for  his  labors ;  his  small  salary  has  always 
been  small  and  always  in  arrears,  and  even 
now  the  town  is  owing  to  him  that  of  last  year. 
Nevertheless,  with  a  cheerful  countenance  he 
appears   at   the   parapet   of   the   pulpit,  and 


A  SUNDA  V  MORNING  IN  1771.  1 3  I 

Stretching  out  his  hands  as  signal  for  the  con- 
gregation to  stand  up,  he  begins  the  services 
with  a  prayer  thirty  minutes  long. 

When  it  is  ended  the  seats  in  the  pews  are 
let  fall,  making  a  noise  like  an  irregular  dis- 
charge of  muskets  ;  there  is  a  shuffling  of 
feet  on  the  sanded  floor,  an  uneasy  settling 
of  the  congregation  in  the  seats,  and  at  last 
everybody  is  still.  During  the  stillness  Mr. 
Thacher  appears  again  and  announces  a 
psalm  to  be  sung.  There  are  not  many  psalm 
books  in  the  house,  there  is  no  choir  and  but 
little  knowledge  of  music.  But  there  is  Dea- 
con William  Blackmer,  of  Blackmer's  Pond, 
who  has  a  strong  voice,  and  for  that  reason 
has  been  appointed  to  read  and  tune  the 
psalms  in  meeting.  He  stands  on  the  pulpit 
stairs  with  a  pine  pitch-pipe  in  hand.  He 
blows  the  key-note,  recites  two  lines  of  the 
psalm,  adjusts  his  voice,  which  is  somewhat 
raspy  by  reason  of  too  many  shoutings  to  his 
oxen  yesterday,  and  then  he  starts  away. 
The  congregation  joins  in  an  arduous  pursuit. 
It  lags  behind,  its  tones  are  dreadfully  dis- 
cordant. Some  dogs  sitting  in  the  alleys 
utter  cries  of  distress,  and  Mr.  Thacher's 
collie,  lying  at  the  pulpit  door,  howls  patheti- 


132     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

cally  at  the  music.  But  Deacon  Blackmer, 
as  in  duty  bound,  keeps  on  his  winding  way, 
by  turns  reciting  and  starting,  until  all  the 
psalm  is  worked  off ;  and  the  congregation 
then  relapses  into  quiet. 

From  this  condition  it  is  summoned  by  a 
signal  to  stand  up  while  Mr.  Thacher  becomes 
"more  large  in  prayer."  This  prayer  is  an 
important  part  of  the  service.  It  has  a  sys- 
tematic beginning,  middle,  and  end.  It  takes 
alternately  the  form  of  a  petition  and  a  nar- 
ration, and  includes  within  its  sweep  Noah, 
Abraham,  the  ancient  Hebrews,  the  sick  and 
the  afflicted  of  the  parish,  and  His  Majesty 
King  George  the  Third.  When  its  long- 
drawn  end  is  reached  there  is  another  slam- 
ming of  seats  and  another  shuffling  of  feet 
on  the  sanded  floor. 

In  the  hush  that  follows,  Thomas  Samson, 
son  of  Ichabod,  doorkeeper,  floor -sweeper, 
grave-digger,  is  seen  going  up  the  pulpit 
stairs.  His  earlier  duty  was  beating  the 
town  drum  to  announce  meeting-time.  Now 
and  then  he  has  swept  the  meeting-house 
floor  and  has  sifted  fresh  sand  upon  it.  He 
also  has  provided  cold  water  for  the  ferocious 
custom  of  baptizing  babies  in  the  meeting- 


A   SUNDAY  MORNING  IN  lyyi.  1 33 

house  on  the  first  Sunday  after  their  birth, 
however  inclement  the  weather  or  perilous 
the  journey  thither  ;  a  cruel  custom  as  we 
now  estimate  the  value  of  infant  life.  John 
Cotton,  minister  at  Hampton,  wrote  in  his 
diary  :  "  Being  Ld's  day  my  wife  was  de- 
livered of  a  Son  who  was  baptised  by  myself 
on  ye  Sabbath  following  viz  Dec  28.  1701  & 
was  called  Simon." 

Now,  the  principal  business  of  Thomas 
Samson  is  with  the  tall,  brass-bound  hour-glass 
standing  on  the  pulpit's  edge.  He  turns  it 
in  view  of  the  preacher,  who  is  to  preach 
an  hour,  or  as  long  as  the  sands  are  run- 
ning. It  is  not  the  tender  mercy  and  love,  but 
the  inflexible  justice  and  anger,  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  that  the  preacher  sets  before  the 
congregation.  He  declares  that  "  the  saints 
in  heaven  will  rejoice  in  seeing  the  justice  of 
God  glorified  in  the  sufferings  of  the  damned." 
The  doctrine  is  cut  into  many  divisions,  in 
which  the  objections  of  skeptics  are  stated 
and  successfully  controverted.  Then  comes 
the  application,  followed  by  reproof  and  ex- 
hortation adapted  to  the  supposed  needs  of  all 
hearers.  Perhaps  it  will  be  necessary  to  turn 
the  hour-glass  for  another  run  before  every 


134     COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

hearer  can  get  the  teaching  fitted  to  his 
condition. 

The  dreadful  doctrine  of  the  sermon  and 
the  loud  voice  of  the  preacher  are  a  contrast 
to  the  cheerful  and  peaceful  surroundings  of 
the  house,  whose  doors  and  windows  are  open, 
admitting  freely  the  summer  air  and  the 
beneficent  sunshine.  The  rustling  of  leaves 
on  neighboring  oaks,  the  songs  of  birds,  the 
stamping  of  horses  hitched  to  the  trees,  the 
drowsy  hum  of  insects,  are  interludes  to  the 
long  argument.  Now  a  great  bumble-bee 
sails  into  the  house  as  if  it  were  a  traveler 
turned  aside  to  inquire  about  the  noise  in  the 
pulpit.  Every  eye  turns  to  this  new-comer 
as  to  one  that  brings  relief.  It  circles  around 
the  preacher's  head,  it  buzzes  against  the 
pulpit  window,  skims  back  and  forth  over  the 
congregation,  and  encourages  the  restless 
boys  and  girls  to  believe  that  it  is  about  to 
alight  on  the  bald  head  of  Barnabas  Bates, 
the  warden. 

In  spite  of  the  energetic  tones  of  the 
preacher  a  drowsiness  comes  over  some  of  the 
farmers,  who  try  to  resist  it  by  standing  up, 
or  by  taking  off  their  heavy  homespun  coats, 
or   by  going   out  to  quiet   their  horses.     A 


A   SUNDAY  MORNING   IN  177 1.  1 35 

babe  lying  on  its  mother's  lap  as  she  sits  in 
the  doorway  of  the  porch  utters  a  cry,  and 
suddenly  every  head  turns  towards  the  babe. 
But  the  preacher  continues  to  unfold  his 
gloomy  theme,  unmindful  of  the  weariness 
apparent  in  the  congregation.  He  began  at 
"  firstly,"  he  has  now  passed  "  twelfthly," 
and  he  begs  his  hearers  to  follow  him  "  once 
more  "  as  he  opens  another  gradient. 

When  at  last  "  finally "  is  ended,  with 
"  aymen  ! "  —  there  is  a  noisy  rush  of  boys  to 
the  doors,  by  which  they  escape  into  the  open 
air,  unless  constables  have  been  placed  there 
to  keep,  as  the  Salem  records  have  it,  "ye 
doores  fast  and  suffer  none  to  goe  out  before 
ye  whole  exercise  bee  ended." 


X. 


THE    TOWN'S   MINISTER. 

LTHOUGH  Rowland  Thacher  was 
the  first  minister  of  the  town,  he 
was  not  the  first  minister  of  the  peo- 
ple who  formed  it.  The  Agawame  planters, 
in  their  lay-out  of  lands  in  1701,  appropriated 
two  lots  for  tillage  and  one  lot  of  meadow, 
"  two  and  for  the  yuse  of  the  ministre,"  as 
their  records  say,  and  this  was  before  they 
had  a  minister  or  knew  where  to  get  one.  In 
1712  they  voted  "that  Mr.  Rouland  Cotton 
should  have  Improvement  of  ye  meadow  for 
seaven  years  next  ensewing."  He  was  the 
minister  of  Sandwich  town,  ten  miles  to  the 
eastward  ;  and  this  grant  indicates  that  he 
rode  over  to  the  plantation  at  certain  times 
to  preach,  perhaps  under  the  forest  trees, 
while  he  continued  to  live  in  Sandwich  and 
be  its  minister.  He  was  paid  for  this  itiner- 
ant service  by  the  mowing  and  pasturage  of 
the  ministry  meadow.     In  those  days  there 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 37 

appears  to  have  been  a  relation  between  min- 
isters and  horses  which  made  it  necessary 
that  measures  for  the  maintenance  of  each 
should  be  taken  simultaneously.     Mr.  Cotton 
had  not  only  the  Agawame  meadow  for  the 
support  of  his  horse,   but   he  also  had  the 
privilege  of    pasturing  that  omnivorous  ani- 
mal  in   the    Sandwich  burying-ground,  pro- 
vided he  fenced  it  around.     This  privilege  is 
not  to  be  considered  as  an  indication  of  pov- 
erty, for  a  burying-ground  was,  in    colonial 
times,  a  favorite   browsing    ground   of    the 
minister's    horse.       But    it   was    sometimes 
necessary  for  a  town  to  request  its  minister 
"not  to  have  more  horses  there  than  shall 
be  really  necessary;"  as  a  Plymouth  town 
meeting  requested  the  Rev.  Chandler  Rob- 
bins,  in  1789,  when  he  was  pasturing  several 
horses  on  Burial  Hill,  much  to  the  damage 
of  the  grave-stones. 

Mr.  Cotton  had  another  privilege  as  the 
Sandwich  town  minister.  The  town  had  voted 
to  him  a  portion  of  "  all  such  drift  whales  as 
shall  during  the  time  of  his  ministry  come 
ashore."  Samuel  Maverick,  in  "  A  Briefe  De- 
scription of  New  England,"  written  about 
1660,  .speaks  of  "a  good  Towne  called  Sand- 


138     COLONIAL   TIMES  OX  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

wich,  a  Tovvne  which  affords  some  ycares  a 
quantity  of  Whalebone  made  of  Whales  which 
drive  up  dead  in  that  Bay."  And  the  Ply- 
mouth Court  had,  in  1662,  announced  that  it 
"  would  bee  very  comendable  and  beneficiall 
to  the  townes  where  God's  Providence  shall 
cast  any  whales  if  they  should  agree  to  sett 
appart  some  pte  of  every  such  fish  or  oyle 
for  the  Incurragement  of  an  able  Godly  min- 
nester  amongst  them."  Thus  Sandwich  was 
"  a  good  Tovvne,"  and  with  its  whales  it  en- 
couraged Mr.  Cotton  in  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, while  he  encouraged  the  Agawame 
planters. 

After  these  planters  had  organized  their 
town  under  the  corporate  name  of  Wareham, 
a  name  taken  —  no  one  knows  why — from 
the  ancient  town  in  Dorset,  on  the  I\!nglish 
Channel,  their  first  duty  was  to  provide  them- 
selves with  an  "  able,  learned,  orthodox  min- 
ister of  good  conversation  to  dispense  the 
Word  of  God  unto  them,"  according  to  the 
province  laws.  They  immediately  accepted 
Rowland  Thacher  as  a  man  answering  to 
this  requirement,  and  agreed  to  maintain 
him  by  a  settlement  of  three  hundred  pounds, 
and  an  annual   salary   of    one  hundred  and 


THE    TOWN'S   MINISTER.  1 39 

twenty  pounds  old  tenor.     These  sums,  al- 
though of  large  denomination,  were  of  small 
value  in  coined  money.     The  new  minister, 
whose  grandfather,   Antony  Thacher,  came 
to  Boston  from  Salisbury,  England,  in  1635, 
was  thirty  years  old,  and  married  to  Abigail 
Crocker.     The  town  which  called  him  was 
composed  of  frugal  husbandmen,  who  made 
their  small    gains  by  small   savings.     They 
therefore  wished  an  inexpensive   ordination, 
and  instructed    their  master  of  ceremonies, 
one  Edward  Bump,  to  provide  "  not  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  Taverns  Selling  of  Vict- 
uals but  as  shall  be  Judged  Reasonable  by 
the  People."     And  so  the  minister  was  or- 
dained  in  a  reasonable   way  December  26, 
1739-     The  next  day  he  organized  a  church  of 
forty-four  members.     It  was  the  frame  upon 
which  the  town  was  built ;  every  inhabitant 
being  included  within  the  fold  of  the  parish. 
After  a  time  the  town  became  neglectful 
of  its  duty  to  its  minister,  and  as  often  as 
it  was  assembled  to  consider  the  constantly 
recurring  problem,  "How  much  money  the 
town  is  for  raising  for  defraying  the  neces- 
sary charges  arising  within  the  same,"  the 
question  of  the  amount  of  salary  to  be  paid 


I40     COLONIAL   TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

to  Parson  Thacher  caused  disagreeable  dis- 
cussions. In  this  respect  Wareham  did  not 
stand  alone.  A  similar  feeling  in  regard  to 
the  support  of  ministers  prevailed  in  other 
towns.  In  an  address  to  the  legislature  of 
1747,  Governor  Shirley  said :  "  I  have  heard 
so  much  of  the  Difficultys  which  many  of 
the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  brought  un- 
der thro  the  great  Depreciation  of  the  Bills 
of  Credit  in  which  their  Salarys  are  paid  and 
the  little  care  taken  by  their  People  to  make 
them  proper  allowances  for  it,  that  it  seems 
probable  many  will  soon  be  necessitated  to 
quit  the  Ministry."  This  promised  to  be  the 
destiny  of  Parson  Thacher.  But  there  was 
a  law  which  declared  that  if  a  town  neglected 
for  six  months  to  make  suitable  provision  for 
its  minister,  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions 
shall  order  a  competent  allowance  for  him 
out  of  the  estate  and  ability  of  the  people. 
The  town,  being  reminded  of  this,  was  warned 
to  assemble,  in  May,  1748,  "to  Cum"  —  as 
the  town  clerk  of  the  period  recorded  it  — 
"  to  Sum  a  Greement  with  Mr.  Thacher  that 
may  Be  to  his  Satisfaction  as  to  ye  Support 
that  he  ought  to  have  from  the  town  that 
thear  may    Be  return  maid   to   ye  General 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  141 

Cort."  In  consequence  of  this  warning,  a 
committee  was  chosen  to  treat  with  him 
"  consearning  his  Salery  to  know  how  much 
money  would  content  him  ;"  and  the  record 
says  that  "he  came  in  town-meeting  and 
thear  said  he  Declined  saying  anything  in 
that  affare,"  —  a  decision  which  showed  the 
honorable  character  of  the  man.  The  result 
was  that  three  hundred  pounds  were  voted  to 
him  as  a  salary  for  that  year.  This  was  paper 
money,  and  the  value  of  the  sum  was  about 
seventy-five  Spanish  milled  dollars.  In  1750 
he  was  given  to  improve  the  ministry  lands 
in  Agawame,  where  Mr.  Cotton  had  pastured 
his  horse  thirty-eight  years  before,  and  he 
was  authorized  to  bring  a  suit  to  dispossess 
the  occupant  of  them,  who  was  Esquire  Is- 
rael Fearing,  His  Majesty's  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  consequently  the  greatest  man  in 
town.  This  disagreeable  task  he  probably 
did  not  undertake,  as  it  was  evidently  an  at- 
tempt of  the  town  to  employ  him  to  pull  its 
chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.  His  salary  was 
soon  after  made  ;!^53  6s.  8d.,  which,  by  the 
new  law,  was  equivalent  to  one  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  Spanish  milled  dollars  ;  and  he 
was   told   that    he   might    have  the   town's 


142     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

money  lying  in  the  treasury  of  Middleborough 
"  for  his  own  use  if  any  be  there."  Trobably 
there  was  not  a  penny  there. 

Parson  Thacher  had  occasion  to  discipHne 
some  members  of  the  church  who  refused  to 
make,  in  pubHc,  a  penitent  confession  of  their 
errors,  according  to  a  custom  derived  from 
Old  England.^  Those  who  were  absent  from 
the  communion  table  on  sacrament  day  were 
summoned  to  account  for  their  absence.  Per- 
haps the  absentee  pleaded  that  he  could  not 
commune  with  a  neighbor  who  had  cheated 
him  in  trading,  or  had  spoken  bad  words  of 
him,  or  whom  he  had  seen  overcome  with 
strong  drink.  Both  persons  were  summoned 
before  the  church,  their  statements  were 
heard,  and  the  erring  one  was  advised  to  offer 
"christian  satisfaction  "  by  a  public  confes- 
sion of  penitence.  A  refusal  to  do  this 
caused  the  member  to  be  "suspended." 

A  troublesome  case  of  discipline  was  that 
of  Abigail  Muxom,  who  in  1750  became  the 
subject  of  a  town  scandal  which  was  proba- 
bly relished  by  the  gossips  as  thoroughly  as 

1 "  By  coaches  to  church  four  miles  off,  where  a  pretty 
good  sermon  and  a  declaration  of  penitence  of  a  man  that 
had  undergone  the  church's  censure  for  his  wicked  life." 
Pepys's  Diary,  June  i6th,  1665. 


THE   TOWN'S  MINISTER.  143 

similar  scandals  are  relished  now.  Three 
years  later  the  church  took  notice  of  it  on 
the  complaint  of  four  members,  the  gist  of 
which  was  that  "this  our  sister  has  been 
guilty  of  immodest  conduct."  It  met  to  con- 
sider the  evidences  on  which  the  complaint 
rested.  These  were  three  old  and  unsworn 
statements,  running  as  follows  :  — 

"Elisha  Benson  Saith  That  he  was  at  Edmund 
Muxoms  house  some  time  since  &  saw  sd 
Muxoms  wife  very  familiar  with  Joseph  Benson 
by  talking  of  balderdash  stuff  &  kissing  &  hug- 
ging one  another  in  the  absence  of  her  husband. 
At  another  time  I  saw  them  coming  out  of  the 
house  together  &  discovered  none  but  they  two. 
Middleborough,  Octr.  1750." 

"  Caleb  Cushman  &  his  wife  do  Testify  &  say 
That  we  some  time  since  have  seen  Joseph  Ben- 
son &  Abigail  Muxom  at  our  house  &  their  be- 
haviour was  uncommon  for  married  people;  she 
fawning  about  him  &  sometimes  in  his  lap  or 
upon  his  knee  &  he  haleing  of  her,  running  his 
face  up  to  hers,  &  as  we  suppose  kissing  of  her 
or  aiming  to  do  so  &  talking  &  joacking  like 
young  people.  — Plymton,  Octr.  1750." 

"  Jedidah  Swift  wife  to  Eben'  Swift  Junr  Saith 
that  she  was  at  the  house  of  Edmund   Muxom 


144     COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

four  times  the  summer  past  &  his  wife  Abigail 
Muxom  did  several  times  call  her  child  to  her 
&  ask  the  child  who  its  father  was,  &  the  child 
would  answer  Doctor  Jo's  at  which  she  would 
laugh  &  make  sport  of.  —  Wareham,  Decern'.  3. 

1750-" 

The  records,  written  by  Parson  Thacher, 
state  that  the  complaint  and  "the  above  evi- 
dences were  read  to  the  church  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  our  sister.  She  denycd  the  two 
first  evidences  as  having  no  truth  in  them, 
but  the  last  she  owned  to  be  true."  She  was 
then,  by  a  vote,  "  suspended  from  the  com- 
munion table  till  she  give  a  christian  satisfac- 
tion ;"  and  soon  the  matter  was  forgotten. 

In  1753,  while  perplexed  about  his  salary, 
his  wife  died.  In  the  same  year  also  died 
the  eldest  son  of  Esquire  Israel  Fearing, 
leaving  a  pretty  and  pious  young  widow.  Nat- 
urally the  thoughts  of  Parson  Thacher  turned 
to  her,  and  occasionally  he  might  be  seen 
riding  his  mare  to  Agawame  to  visit  her.  It 
was  a  lonesome  ride,  across  the  Woonkinco 
River  by  a  causeway  over  the  dam,  then  east- 
ward two  miles  on  a  sandy  road  winding 
through  silent  pine  woods  in  which  sheep 
were  pastured  and  foxes  were  hunted,  until 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  145 

it  reached  Deacon  Swift's  inn,  where  the 
farmers  were  accustomed  to  barter  mutton 
and  hay  for  rum  by  the  gallon.  The  inn 
stood  on  a  picturesque  site  near  the  bank  of 
the  Agawame  River ;  near  it  were  a  lumber 
mill  and  a  merchant's  store,  making  a  fussy 
little  centre  of  trade.  But  the  parson  does 
not  pull  up  there.  He  rides  a  half  mile  fur- 
ther, and  reaches  "  the  neighborhood,"  nigh 
the  burying-acre,  where  the  Squire's  dwell- 
ing-house stood,  and  stands  to  this  day.  He 
was  not  a  stranger  there.  The  Squire's 
account -book  mentions  him  as  a  buyer  of 
"cheas,  malases,  hay,  hunny,  an  ox  waying 
427  pounds,  laths,  mutten."  But  his  errand 
now  is  for  nothing  of  that  sort.  He  wants 
the  pretty  widow  for  a  wife.  He  is  many 
years  her  senior,  yet,  being  the  town  minister 
and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  he  is  the 
man  whom  any  woman  might  be  glad  to  wed. 
His  suit  was  short  and  successful,  and  in  the 
eleventh  month  from  the  day  he  became  a 
widower  he  married  Hannah  Fearing.^ 

1  The  will  of  Israel  Fearing,  Esquire,  1754,  contained 
the  following  bequest :  "  I  give  and  allow  to  my  daugh- 
ter in  law  Hannah  Fearing  during  her  widowhood,  the  fol- 
lowing privilege  namely,  the  use   of  the  Westerly  lower 


146     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

The  large  and  increasing  family  of  the  de- 
voted parson  needed  for  their  maintenance 
all  that  he  could  earn;  but  whatever  was 
the  amount  of  salary  voted  by  the  town,  it 
was  always  far  in  arrears.  This  condition 
of  things  continuing  year  after  year  made  it 
necessary  for  the  town  to  do  something.  In 
September,  1771,  it  appointed  "  Dea  William 
Blackmer  mr  Barnabas  Bates  and  Esqr  Fear- 
ing and  Ensign  John  Gibbs  agents  to  treat 
with  Mr  Thacher  about  his  Sallery  to  know 
what  he  is  willing  to  tack  for  ye  Insuing  year." 
But  this  game  had   been  played  too    often 

room  in  the  dwelling  house  I  have  given  to  my  son  Benja- 
min with  the  westerly  garret,  one  third  of  the  cellar,  one 
third  of  the  Leanter  at  the  West  end  with  liberty  to  bake 
and  wash  in  said  Leanter.  Also  pasturage  for  two  cows 
yearly  in  the  season  of  pasturing  to  go  with  sd  Benj's  cows 
with  privilege  of  using  one  third  of  the  little  bam  on  said 
farm.  Also  liberty  to  improve  a  small  field  about  half  an 
acre  on  the  South  side  of  the  road  near  said  house  now 
fenced  in.  Also  liberty  of  cutting  ten  cords  of  wood  yearly 
off  of  the  lot  I  bought  of  Ebenezer  Perry.  Also  one  half 
of  the  fruit  yearly  which  shall  grow  in  the  orchard  by  said 
Dwelling  House.  Also  pasturage  and  hay  for  ten  sheep 
yearly  on  the  farm  I  have  given  to  her  son  Israel  only  in 
the  Spring,  Fall  and  Winter.  Also  fodder  or  salt  hay  to 
winter  two  cows  yearly  off  of  the  place  I  have  given  her 
son  Israel."  All  these  privileges  she  gave  up  to  marry  the 
town  minister. 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 47 

during  the  thirty  years  preceding,  and  Par- 
son Thacher  would  not  treat  with  them. 
Therefore  in  October  the  selectmen  issued  a 
warrant  for  a  town  meeting.  The  warrant 
recited  in  detail  the  several  questions  to  be 
voted  upon,  as  follows  :  — 

"  to  Raise  money  to  Pay  ye  Rev  mr  Thachers 
Sallery  for  ye  Present  year 

"  and  Likewise  to  agree  with  mr  thacher  as  he 
Is  Not  Satisfied  with  ye  Poorness  of  his  former 
Payment  what  sum  or  sums  he  Shall  Have  for  ye 
Futer  yearly  and  at  what  time  in  ye  year  it  shall 
be  paid  him 

"  and  Likewise  weather  sd  town  will  voate  to 
Give  him  any  Interest  for  that  Parte  that  be  Neg- 
lected to  be  Paid  in  at  such  Set  times  or  ye 
whole  upon  Neglect  of  Payment  at  sd  time 

"and  Likewise  wheather  sd  town  will  allow 
any  Interest  for  what  is  behind  for  Last  years 
Sallery  by  reason  of  it  not  being  Paid  in  seasion- 
ably." 

It  does  not  appear  that  these  Likewises 
were  ever  answered. 

His  promised  salary  never  promptly  paid, 
he  tilled  the  soil  for  a  living  as  well  as  the 
souls  of  the  parish,  and  found  his  only  rec- 
reation in  walks  about  the  sandy  Zion.     For 


148     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

such  an  humble  laborer  there  were  no  lux- 
uries, and  no  vacations  except  to  exchange 
for  a  Sunday  with  the  minister  of  a  neigh- 
boring town.  So  Parson  Thacher  lived  in 
his  parish,  and  died  there  in  the  winter  of 
1775.  During  his  fatal  illness  the  town 
meeting  discussed  his  poor  financial  condi- 
tion, and  voted  not  to  allow  him  anything 
"for  the  year  past  more  than  his  stated 
salery."  But  he  was  soon  to  be  free  from 
the  tyranny  of  town  meetings.  Twelve  days 
after  this  vote  he  entered  into  his  rest,  leav- 
ing a  "good  savor  of  godlyness  behind  him." 
Seven  months  after  he  was  dead  the  town 
chose  a  committee  to  settle  with  his  eldest 
son  "  relative  to  his  Hon'd  Father's  Sallery 
the  last  year  which  was  behind."  Whether 
the  son  ever  received  the  arrears  of  money 
due  to  his  honored  father,  no  one  now 
knoweth. 

Wareham  must  have  a  minister  even  if  it 
will  not  pay  his  salary  promptly ;  and  no  one 
having  offered  himself  as  a  successor  of  Mr. 
Thacher,  a  town  meeting  held  on  the  3d  of 
April,  1775,  chose  "  Lieut.  John  Gibbs  to  Pro- 
vide a  minister  for  the  towne  &  a  Place  for 
him  to  bord  at."    Those  were  rebellious  times 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 49 

in  the  province  ;  and  John  Gibbs  was  a  com- 
missioned officer  in  the  county  militia,  which 
responded  to  the  Lexington  alarm  three 
weeks  after  he  had  been  chosen  to  supply  the 
pulpit.  He  therefore  had  no  time  to  attend 
to  ministry  matters,  and  went  off  with  his 
company  to  join  the  provincial  army  near 
Boston,  leaving  the  pulpit  without  a  minister. 

During  the  ensuing  summer  a  young  man 
named  Josiah  Cotton  was  found  at  Plymouth 
waiting  a  call  to  preach.  Immediately  the 
town  was  assembled  to  consider  the  matter, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  wait  on 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Cotton  to  see  on  what  Terms  he 
will  Preach  and  on  what  Terms  he  would  set- 
tle." This  having  been  done,  the  formalities 
customary  in  those  times  between  the  town 
and  the  church  were  attended  to.  The  town 
nominated  Mr.  Cotton,  or,  as  the  phrase  of 
the  time  was,  '*  improved  him  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Resettlement  of  the  Gospel  Minis- 
try." The  church  then  voted  that  "  it  is  its 
Mind  and  earnest  Desire"  to  take  him  as  its 
pastor,  and  the  town  voted  "to  concur  and 
Join  with  ye  Church  in  a  call  to  settle  Mr. 
Cotton." 

His  annual  salary  was  to  be  £6$  13s.  4d., 


150     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

equivalent  to  two  hundred  and  nineteen 
Spanish  milled  dollars,  and  he  was  to  have  a 
settlement  of  ;^i6o,  to  be  paid  in  three  years. 
There  was  no  parsonage  in  the  parish,  and 
the  new  minister  was  disinclined  to  "  board 
round,"  aS  did  the  schoolmaster  and  the  shoe- 
maker while  practicing  their  professions.  He 
wrote  a  letter,  in  which  he  said,  if  the  town 
would  furnish  him  with  a  parsonage,  he 
would,  "on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
times,  relinquish  the  sum  of  six  pounds  thir- 
teen shillings  and  four  pence  for  the  year  to 
come,  and  after  that  time  if  the  day  should 
still  continue  distressing  by  a  stoppage  of 
trade,  make  a  proportionable  relinquishment  if 
consistent  with  necessary  support,"  He  fore- 
saw that  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  which  the 
politicians  of  the  seditious  town  of  Boston 
were  then  trying  to  inflame,  would  impover- 
ish his  parish,  and  bring  distress  upon  the 
province.  The  town  did  not  stop  to  think  of 
these  things,  nor  did  it  provide  a  parsonage, 
but  immediately  made  plans  for  the  ordina- 
tion. 

As  ministers  were  settled  for  life,  an  ordi- 
nation, on  account  of  its  rare  occurrence,  at- 
tracted all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and 


^  THE   TOWN'S  MINISTER.  15 1 

many  from  neighboring  towns  to  see  the  pro- 
cession of  the  ordaining  council  escorted  by 
drums  and  fifes,  and  to  enjoy  the  services  at 
the  meeting-house  and  the  free  lunch  at  the 
tavern.  It  was  arranged  to  accompany  the 
ordination  of  the  new  minister  with  joyous 
festivities  of  eating  and  drinking.  The  job 
was  farmed  out  to  the  lowest  bidder,  who 
happened  to  be  the  eldest  son  of  the  previous 
minister,  and  who  did  not  get  his  pay  for 
it  until  the  next  spring,  when  ten  pounds 
and  two  shillings  were  voted  "to  Rowland 
Thacher  for  making  Entertanement  for  the 
ordernation."  His  instructions  were  to  make 
entertainment  "for  the  Counsell,  Ministers  & 
Schollars  for  the  Sum  of  Two  Shillings  & 
Eight  Pence  for  Each  Man  &  Horse."  In 
addition  to  this  there  was  a  feast  of  a  more 
private  character  arranged  by  the  selectmen, 
who  commissioned  Samuel  Savery  and  Eben- 
ezer  Briggs  "to  Provide  an  Entertainment 
for  Some  Particular  Gentlemen  &  Mr.  Cot- 
ton's friends,  and  to  nominate  and  Invite 
such  persons  as  they  shall  think  Proper." 
Doubtless  there  was  great  hilarity  at  this 
municipal  junket.  It  may  be  presumed  that 
striped  bass  and  scup,  mutton,  venison,  and 


I  5  2     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

corn  puddings,  wild  ducks,  oysters,  crabs, 
and  clams,  adorned  the  board.  Shell-fish 
were  plenty  along-shore  then,  as  they  are 
now,  and  perhaps  it  was  in  anticipation  of 
this  high  time  that  in  the  spring  of  this 
year  the  town  had  ordered  "that  there  shall 
be  no  shell-fish  nor  shells  carried  out  of  the 
town."  The  courses  were  probably  served 
with  Canary  wine  and  Barbados  rum,  and 
with  these  the  selectmen  and  their  "  Particu- 
lar Gentlemen  "  drank  Parson  Cotton's  health 
and  wished  him  a  successful  ministry. 

Notwithstanding  these  good  wishes,  his 
career  in  Wareham  was  short.  The  distress- 
ing days  to  which  he  had  referred  in  his  let- 
ter became  more  and  more  distressing.  The 
rebellion  against  the  King,  and  the  ensuing 
war,  had  made  the  farmers  poor,  silver  coins 
had  disappeared  from  circulation,  and  the 
value  of  the  new  paper  money  was  reduced 
to  such  a  low  degree  that  the  minister's  sal- 
ary became  a  mere  pittance,  utterly  inade- 
quate for  his  support.  Mr.  Cotton  was  obliged 
to  ask  again  and  again  for  more  compensa- 
tion. Six  hundred  pounds  were  voted  to 
him.  This  not  being  sufficient  for  his  sup. 
port,  and  the  people  being  unable  or  unwilling 


THE   TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 53 

to  afford  him  further  relief,  he  was  dismissed 
by  a  vote  of  town  meeting  in  March,  1779. 
He  packed  his  sermons  in  his  saddlebags, 
mounted  his  horse,  and  returned  to  Plymouth, 
where  he  abandoned  the  ministry,  which  could 
not  give  him  a  maintenance,  became  clerk  of 
the  courts,  and  a  much  respected  citizen  of 
that  town. 

After  he  rode  away  there  was  an  interval 
of  nearly  four  years  before  another  town 
minister  was  secured,  during  which  time  the 
deacons  or  selectmen  were  riding  hither 
and  thither  after  a  candidate.  This  riding  is 
noted  in  a  record  of  the  town  clerk  of  1782, 
in  which  the  union  of  diverse  subjects  in  one 
vote  is  characteristic  of  the  methods  of  do- 
ing public  business  at  that  time  :  —  "Voted  to 
Jeremiah  Bump  for  rideing  after  a  Candidate 
to  Preach,  £,1  4s.  od.  —  to  Prince  Burgess  for 
a  Shirt  for  wd  Lovell  &  keeping  mr  Parmalys 
horse  £,0  i8s.  od." 

In  1782  Noble  Everitt,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  was  called  to  be  the  town  minister. 
He  showed  much  shrewdness  by  not  accept- 
ing  the  call  until  by  a  negotiation  with  the 
town  he  had  obtained  satisfactory  terms  of 
compensation.     It  was  agreed  to  give  him 


154     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

land,  and  to  build  upon  it  a  two-story  dwell- 
ing-house for  him  "in  a  decent  and  hand- 
some manner  with  a  convenient  cellar  under 
the  same,"  to  be  finished  in  November,  1783  ; 
to  give  him  a  salary  of  "  £,^6  silver  money," 
free  use  of  the  ministry  lands  and  meadows, 
and  "  wood  for  the  maintenance  of  his  fires." 
The  town  went  to  work  in  earnest  to  carry 
out  this  undertaking.  The  selectmen  issued 
a  warrant  directing  the  collector  to  levy  and 
collect  of  each  person  on  a  list  prepared  for 
the  purpose  his  or  her  proportion,  as  set 
down,  of  "  the  sum  of  three  hundred  and 
forty-three  pounds,  five  shillings,  three  pence, 
two  farthings,  for  defraying  the  necessary 
expenses  for  building  the  Rev.  Mr.  Noble 
Everitt's  house  and  other  ministeral  charges." 
The  collector  was  directed  to  seize  the  goods 
and  chattels  of  those  refusing  to  pay  the  as- 
sessment, to  keep  the  same  four  days,  and 
then  if  payment  was  not  made,  to  sell  them 
"at  an  Outcry  for  payment  of  said  money." 
Those  who  had  no  goods  or  chattels  and  re- 
fused to  pay,  he  was  directed  to  arrest  and 
commit  "  unto  the  common  Goal  of  the 
county,  there  to  remain  until  he  or  they  pay 
and  satisfy  the  several  sums  whereat  they  are 


THE   TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 55 

respectively  assessed."  The  list  of  assessed 
persons  probably  contains  the  name  of  every 
head  of  a  family  dwelling  in  the  town,  and  of 
every  widow  having  an  estate.  It  was  a  se- 
vere treatment  to  which  they  were  subjected 
for  the  public  good  ;  but  the  house  was  built, 
and  it  is  still  standing  on  the  old  road  which 
went  from  the  meeting-house  to  the  settle- 
ment on  Cromeset  Neck, 

The  first  action  of  Parson  Everitt  was  to 
propose  a  season  of  fasting  and  self-examina- 
tion. The  members  of  the  church,  declaring 
themselves  to  be  "sensible  of  our  coldness 
and  lukewarmness  in  religion,"  voted  to  re- 
new "  our  covenant  with  God  and  with  one 
another,"  and  they  appointed  a  committee 
"  to  converse  with  brethren  and  sisters  who 
are  or  may  be  guilty  of  public  offence  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  given  Mat.  18."  These 
cleansing  explorers  brought  to  light  an  old 
scandal  which  had  been  forgotten.  Thirty 
years  had  elapsed  since  Abigail  Muxom  was 
disciplined.  Now  an  old  woman,  she  was 
again  called  up  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  the 
complaint  recorded  against  her  in  1753,  the 
evidences  written  in  1750,  and  to  the  state- 
ments of  new  witnesses  as  to  her  conduct 
"upwards  of  twenty  years  ago  : "  — 


156     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

"John  Benson  of  Middleborough  testifieth 
that  upwards  of  20  years  ago  he  was  at  the  house 
of  Edmund  Muxom  the  husband  of  said  Abigail, 
sometime  in  the  afternoon  before  sunset,  he  saw 
said  Abigail  on  bed  with  Joseph  Benson,  in  the 
easterly  part  of  the  house.  He  also  saith  that  at 
another  time  he  was  at  work  near  Edmund  Mux- 
om's  house  and  heard  him  repeatedly  bid  his  son 
Lem.  go  and  fetch  the  horse  and  on  refusal  cor- 
rected him.  Abigail  came  to  the  door  and  said 
—  What  do  you  whip  that  child  for  ?  it  is  none 
of  yours,  upon  which  John  Benson  said  I  always 
thought  so,  at  which  she  went  into  the  house 
and  said  no  more.     April  nth,  1783." 

"  Hannah  Besse  testifieth  that  sometime  about 
20  years  ago  or  upward  she  went  to  Edmund 
Muxom's  house  late  in  the  evening  and  there  saw 
Abigail  his  wife  on  bed  by  the  fire  with  Joseph 
Benson.     April  nth,  1783." 

The  accused  woman,  having  listened  to 
these  statements,  positively  declared,  in  pres- 
ence of  the  assembled  church,  that  "the 
evidences  of  John  Benson  and  Harriet  Besse 
are  false."  There  was  no  friend  or  attor- 
ney to  represent  her  before  this  self-right- 
eous tribunal ;  and,  without  cross-examining 
the  unsworn   witnesses,   the    church   voted 


THE  TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 5/ 

(men  only  were  allowed  to  vote)  that  she  "  is 
guilty  of  the  charge."  Then  there  was  a 
pause  in  the  proceedings,  and  the  people  went 
home  as  if  to  think  over  the  matter.  After 
some  weeks  had  elapsed,  she  was  again  sum- 
moned before  the  church,  and  was  "  admon- 
ished by  the  pastor"  of  the  perilous  position 
in  which  she  stood.  Some  of  the  sinful 
brethren  who  had  voted  her  to  be  guilty,  "  la- 
bored" with  her;  and  sympathizing  women 
conversed  with  her.  But  she  refused  to  con- 
fess that  she  was  guilty  of  the  alleged  sin, 
and  resolutely  maintained  that  the  witnesses 
were  liars. 

From  the  neighboring  towns  six  ministers 
were  then  summoned  to  the  inquest.  They 
came  and  made  a  holiday ;  the  six  ministers 
on  horseback,  and  the  village  idlers,  to  whom 
the  spicy  story  was  familiar,  crowding  around 
them  and  believing  that  justice  must  reign 
though  the  heavens  fell. 

Again  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  church  ; 
Abigail  Muxom  stood  in  the  sovereign  pres- 
ence of  the  six  ministers,  while  the  floor  and 
galleries  of  the  meeting-house  were  crowded 
by  curious  spectators  attracted  by  what  was 
to  them  "  the  greatest  show  on  earth."     The 


158     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

evidences  were  read  aloud  from  the  records  : 
the  accused  woman  again  denied  their  truth  ; 
the  six  ministers  were  requested  "  to  give 
their  opinion  what  particular  immodest  con- 
duct our  sister  is  guilty  of,  and  how  this 
church  ought  to  proceed  with  her."  They, 
*•  having  conversed  with  the  Brethren  of  the 
church  and  heard  what  said  Abigail  had  to 
say  in  her  own  defence,"  consulted  together, 
and  declared  that  her  "immodest  conduct  in 
former  years  with  one  Doct.  Joseph  Benson 
was  forbidden  by  the  7th  commandment," 
and  that  it  was  her  duty  "to  make  a  peni- 
tent and  public  confession  of  her  sin  ; "  and 
"if  she  refuse  or  neglect  to  do  it,"  the  church 
"  to  proceed  after  other  suitable  forbearance 
to  excommunication."  The  church  then 
"Voted  that  Abigail  Muxom  is  guilty  of 
immodest  conduct  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  ReV^  Pastors,"  and  it  appointed  three 
stern-visaged  men  to  converse  with  her  in 
the  hope  of  obtaining  a  confession  of  the 
alleged  sin.  Their  mission,  as  they  reported, 
"appeared  to  have  no  good  effect."  Then, 
after  another  delay  indicating  a  reluctance 
to  pass  such  a  terrible  judgment  upon  "  this 
unhappy  sister,"  the  church  came  together 


THE    TOWN'S  MINISTER.  1 59 

and  the  men  "  Voted  that  Abigail  Muxom  be 
rejected  and  excommunicated  from  the  com- 
munion of  this  church,  as  being  visibly  a  har- 
dened and  impenitent  sinner  out  of  the  visi- 
ble Kingdom  of  Christ,  one  who  ought  to  be 
viewed  and  treated  by  all  good  people  as  a 
heathen  and  a  publican  in  imminent  danger 
of  eternal  perdition.  Praying  that  this  sep- 
aration of  hers  from  christian  fellowship  may 
not  be  eternal,  but  a  means  of  her  true  and 
unfeigned  repentance  that  her  soul  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord." 

Four  years  later  Parson  Everitt  was  pros- 
trated by  an  illness  which  continued  month 
after  month,  and  caused  the  church  to  be 
perplexed  respecting  its  duty  "on  account 
of  their  pastor  being  unable  to  preach  by 
reason  of  bodily  indisposition."  Advice  was 
sought  from  the  town  meeting ;  and  after  a 
lapse  of  ten  months  the  six  neighboring  ec- 
clesiastics were  consulted  on  the  question 
whether  the  church  "  ought  to  wait  any 
longer  for  his  recovery  or  proceed  to  a  sep- 
aration." It  looked  as  if  Abigail  Muxom  was 
about  to  be  avenged,  when  Parson  Everett  sud- 
denly recovered  his  health  and  returned  to 
the  pulpit  which  he  had  narrowly  escaped 
losing. 


l60     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

He  appears  to  have  been  a  thrifty  man.  In 
addition  to  his  labors  as  a  preacher,  in  which 
he  gained  a  good  repute,  he  was  a  successful 
farmer ;  and  it  is  noted  in  the  town  records 
that  he  built  a  rail  fence  around  the  ministry 
fresh  meadow  with  two  hundred  cedar  rails, 
which  the  town  had  bought  for  that  purpose 
from  the  "loest  bider."  He  also  received 
from  the  town  eighteen  shillings  a  year,  or 
three  dollars,  for  sweeping  the  meeting-house 
and  taking  care  of  it.  This  was  an  office  of 
honor  as  well  as  of  profit,  and  it  was  after- 
wards held  by  Andrew  Mackie,  the  town  phy- 
sician. The  parson  increased  the  interesting 
variety  of  his  occupations  by  leasing  a  fulling 
mill  on  the  Woonkinco  dam  in  sight  of  the 
meeting-house.  Here  on  Sunday  he  preached 
to  his  people,  and  there  on  Monday  he 
cleansed  their  homespun  cloths,  even  unto 
the  year  of  his  death,  which  was  the  year 
1 8 19,  when  colonial  times  had  begun  to  pass 
away. 


XL 


THE  TOWN'S   SCHOOLMASTER. 


N  February,  1741,  the  farmers  of 
Wareham  came  together  and  voted 
"to  have  a  School  Master  this  year." 
Having  done  this  they  rested.  A  month 
later  a  warrant  was  posted  on  the  meeting- 
house door  summoning  a  meeting  "To  know 
the  Towns  Mind,  whether  they  are  for  hav- 
ing a  School  Master  or  Mistress."  They 
came  together  again  and  voted  "to  have  a 
School  Mistress  for  six  months  and  Jedediah 
Wing  to  be  the  man  to  provide  her  in  each 
half  of  the  town."  And  then  they  rested 
again. 

It  is  doubtful  if  Jedediah  Wing  did  as  he 
was  directed  to  do,  for  no  mention  of  the  en- 
gagement of  a  schoolmistress  is  to  be  found 
in  the  town  records.  But  Israel  Fearing's 
account-book  reveals  the  fact  that  there  was 
at  this  time  a  teacher  who  went  from  house 


1 62     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

to  house  to  fit  children  with  knowledge,  as 
the  shoemaker  went  in  a  like  circuit  to  fit 
them  with  shoes  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
fittings  of  the  latter  were  fully  as  good  as 
those  of  the  former.  This  is  what  the  ac- 
count-book says  :  — 

"April  y^  27  day  1741  Mr  doty  came  to  keep 
Scool  at  my  hous 

"June  ye  8  day  in  1741  Mr  doty  came  to 
boord  at  my  hous  and  keep  Scool  thare  to  ye 
22  day  of  July 

"Jenauary  y*  14  day  1742  biniamin  tupper 
came  to  my  hous  to  ceep  Scool " 

In  May,  1743,  a  warrant  for  a  town  meet- 
ing was  issued,  stating  a  desire  "  to  know  the 
Towns  Mind  whether  they  are  for  having  the 
School  Settled  and  also  how  often  they  are 
for  having  it  moved  and  how  they  are  for 
haveing  Him  Dieted."  These  questions  were 
disposed  of  by  an  agreement  to  keep  a  school 
four  months  in  each  of  three  sections  of  the 
town  ;  and  as  to  the  schoolmaster's  board,  it 
should  be  rated  at  eight  shillings  a  week,  old 
tenor,  which  at  that  time  may  have  been 
equal  to  nearly  forty  cents  in  honest  silver 
money. 


THE    TOWN'S  SCHOOLMASTER.         1 63 

The  treasurer's  book  shows  that  a  school 
was  kept  in  1743,  although  this  fact  would 
not  be  established  by  the  action  of  the  town 
meeting.  In  the  opinion  of  the  rural  popu- 
lation of  New  England,  schools  were  an 
Unnecessary  expense.  Oftentimes  the  for- 
malities of  town  meetings,  by  which  it  was 
ordered  "to  set  up  a  school  this  year,"  had 
no  other  intent  than  to  show  an  outward 
compliance  with  the  unpopular  school  laws  of 
the  province.  Whenever  the  people  could 
contrive  a  way  by  which  the  expenses  of  a 
school  could  be  saved,  there  would  be  no 
school  during  that  year.  And  when,  on  ac- 
count of  this  neglect  to  observe  the  school 
laws,  the  town  was  presented  by  the  grand 
jury  of  the  county,  it  was  customary  to  de- 
pute the  most  influential  townsman  to  go 
and  answer  the  presentment  by  such  excuses 
as  could  be  made. 

In  February,  1744,  the  usual  routine  was 
repeated.  The  farmers  were  summoned  "  to 
know  what  the  Towns  Mind  is  for  doing 
about  a  School  for  the  insuing  year."  The 
school  of  the  previous  year  having  cost  fifty- 
five  pounds,  old  tenor,  which  may  have  been 
equivalent  to  fifty-five  Spanish  dollars,  and  it 


1 64   Colonial  times  on  buzzarhs  bay. 

being  necessary  to  raise  this  sum  by  a  gen- 
eral tax,  the  Town's  Mind  was  for  doing  noth- 
ing ;  and  not  until  the  following  July  did  it 
consent  to  have  a  school  opened.  Then 
Eleazar  King  was  chosen  schoolmaster.  He 
gave  satisfaction  to  his  patrons  until  the  day 
when  the  town  clerk  stood  up  in  the  meeting- 
house and  screamed  out  Eleazar's  intention 
to  marry  Lydia  Bump,  who  was  already  mar- 
ried to  a  wandering  husband.  This  inten- 
tion being  declared  by  the  church  to  be  an 
offense  to  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of 
the  province,  he  was  compelled  to  quit  the 
school,  while  Lydia  was  disciplined,  and  the 
town  cast  about  for  another  schoolmaster.^ 
John  Bishup,  the  town  clerk,  wrote  in  the 

1  "At  a  church  meeting  July  i.  1747.  voted  that  our  sis- 
ter Lydia  Bump  be  put  by  from  special  ordinances  till  she 
gave  christian  satisfaction  for  the  following  offence,  viz. 
In  that  she  has  for  some  time  kept  company  with  &  now 
is  published  to  Eleazar  King  in  order  for  marriage :  altho 
her  husband  has  not  been  absent  but  about  one  year  &  half, 
&  in  which  time  he  has  often  been  seen  &  heard  of  by  us 
&  that  too  within  a  year  past,  which  procedure  we  look 
upon  as  contrary  to  the  good  &  wholesome  laws  of  this 
province  in  that  case  provided.  Also  voted  yt  sd  E.  King 
be  denied  communion  with  us  &  ye  church  in  Plymton  to 
whom  he  belongs  be  acquainted  with  it." —  Warehatn 
Church  Records. 


THE    TOWN'S  SCHOOLMASTER.  1 65 

records  of  1748,  as  follows:  "Decon  Elles 
says  he  had  discerst  mr  William  Rayment  to 
know  whether  he  would  Sarve  the  town  as  a 
Scoolmaster  and  he  Inclined  to  Sarve  the 
town  if  the  town  will  allow  him  Eightey 
Pounds  a  year  old  teener  and  ye  modarater 
Put  It  to  vote  whether  ye  town  would  Imploy 
ye  sd  Raymond  In  the  affare  In  Keeping 
Scool  at  the  aforesd  tearms  and  the  vote  Past 
In  ye  Negative  " 

On  this  rejection  of  the  deacon's  candidate, 
Samuel  Savery  was  chosen  "  to  Bee  the  man 
to  Git  a  Sutable  man,"  and  to  report  "  what 
tarmes  such  a  man  would  sarve  the  town  for," 
In  January,  1749,  he  reported  that  William 
Rayment  had  reduced  his  price,  and  could  be 
had  "to  keep  scool  half  a  yeare  for  thirty 
nine  pounds  old  teener."  The  moderator,  so 
says  the  record,  "  Put  to  vote  whether  the 
Town  would  have  sd  Rayment  to  keep  scool 
on  ye  tarmes  offerd  or  not  and  the  Vote 
Past  in  the  Negative." 

In  the  mean  time  the  intention  of  marriage 
between  Lydia  Bump  and  Eleazar  King  was 
atoned  in  a  public  and  penitent  confession  by 
the  woman  of  her  error.  This  brought  Elea- 
zar into  favor,  and  he  was  chosen  again  to 


1 66    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

keep  the  town's  school.  One  of  the  school- 
masters in  subsequent  years  and  previous  to 
the  Revolution  was  Andrew  Mackie,  the  town 
physician,  who,  having  studied  physic  with 
his  father  at  Southampton,  Long  Island,  left 
his  home  a  young  man  in  search  of  fortune. 
Arriving  at  Wareham,  dressed  in  a  red  coat 
and  small-clothes  of  good  quality,  he  took 
lodgings  at  the  inn,  where  he  attracted  the 
notice  of  Charity  Fearing,  the  innkeeper's 
daughter,  who  fell  in  love  with  him  on  sight 
and  eventually  married  him.  Here,  begin- 
ning his  career  by  teaching  the  town  school, 
and  by  riding  long  distances  over  bad  roads 
to  practice  physic  upon  the  farmers  as  op- 
portunity offered,  he  found  the  fortune  of 
which  he  was  in  search.  There  is  a  writing 
in  the  town  treasurer's  book  running  as  fol- 
lows :  "July  ye  26:  1766  Paid  John  Fear- 
ing Esqre  for  Bowrding  Docter  Maci  when 
he  keept  scool  17s.  4d." 

The  frugal  mind  of  the  colonial  farmer 
reckoned  the  schoolmaster  as  a  day-laborer, 
and  the  desire  was  to  hire  him  at  as  low  a 
price,  and  to  spread  his  labors  over  as  large 
a  territory,  as  possible.  Each  section  of  the 
town  had  his   services  during  two  or  three 


THE    TOWN'S  SCHOOLMASTER.  1 6/ 

months  of  the  year,  when  the  scholars  were 
taught  to  read,  to  write,  to  cipher,  and  noth- 
ing more.  He  was  paid  sometimes  in  money 
and  sometimes  in  merchandise,  and  his  diet 
was  "  thrown  in."  There  was  no  standard  by 
which  to  test  his  skill  as  a  teacher,  but  the 
one  generally  esteemed  the  most  skillful  was 
he  whose  price  was  the  lowest ;  even  if  he 
were  the  chief  of  blockheads 

"  Who  tries  with  ease  and  unconcern 
To  teach  what  ne'er  himself  could  learn." 

His  official  seat  was  a  great  chair,  behind 
a  table  or  desk  on  which  he  made  a  dis- 
play of  birch  rods.  There  he  announced  his 
laws,  whose  penalties  were  floggings  ;  and 
there  he  frowned  upon  the  youngsters  whose 
roguish  pranks  kept  him  so  actively  occupied 
that  the  flag  bottom  of  the  chair  needed  fre- 
quent repairing.  "Paid  ten  shillings,"  say 
the  Woburn  records  of  1747,  "for  bottoming 
the  Scoole  Hous  Cheer." 

The  schoolhouse  was  usually  a  small  un- 
painted  building  standing  by  the  roadside  like 
"  A  ragged  beggar  sunning." 

It  contained  a  large  fireplace,  for  whose  fires 
the  children's  parents  provided  wood.     Its 


1 68     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

square  room  was  furnished  with  rough 
benches,  made  smoother  and  glossier  every 
year  by  the  friction  of  the  woolen  frocks  and 
leathern  breeches  of  restless  pupils  to  whom 
schooling  was  a  bore. 

"  Within  the  master's  desk  is  seen, 
Deep  scarred  by  raps  official ; 
The  warping  floor,  the  battered  seats, 

The  jack-knife's  carved  initial ; 
.  The  charcoal  frescos  on  its  wall, 

Its  door-worn  sill  betraying 
The  feet  that,  creeping  slow  to  school, 
Went  storming  out  to  playing." 


XII. 

TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

N  a  back  leaf  of  the  town-book,  be- 
tween the  records  of  marriage  and 
death,  it  is  written  :  "  At  a  Request 
of  ye  town  of  Boston  the  Inhabatance  of  the 
Town  of  Wareham  met  togather  on  ye  i8 
Day  of  Jan'  1773  To  Consider  of  matters 
of  Grevinces  ye  Provience  was  under," 

At  this  meeting  three  men  were  selected 
to  lay  "  ye  above  said  matters  of  Grevince  " 
before  the  town,  and  then  an  adjournment 
was  voted  to  the  bar-room  of  Benjamin  Fear- 
ing's  inn,  the  8th  day  of  February.  Here 
the  same  persons  met  on  the  appointed  day 
"  to  Consider,"  as  the  quaint  narrative  states, 
"of  a  Letter  of  Corrispondence  from  the 
town  of  Boston  Occasioned  by  Sundrey 
Grievences  the  People  of  this  Provence  at 
Present  Labour  under  Respecting  Sundrey 
acts   of    the    Parliament   of    Greait   Brition 


I/O    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

therby  Drowing  a  tribute  or  tax  from  the 
People  of  this  Provience."  Resolutions  were 
adopted  similar  to  those  adopted  in  other 
towns,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  the 
people  of  Wareham  "have  been  and  still 
are  "  deprived  of  their  natural  rights  as  citi- 
zens of  the  British  empire,  and  will  join 
other  towns  in  an  effort  to  regain  them.  The 
scholarly  style  of  these  resolutions,  as  well 
as  their  political  statements,  show  that  they 
were  drafted  in  Boston. 

The  assembly  at  the  inn  was  not  a  regular 
town  meeting  ;  it  was  not  summoned  by  the 
selectmen's  warrant ;  it  was  not  held  in  the 
meeting-house,  the  place  appointed  for  all 
town  meetings  ;  and  its  proceedings  were 
written  by  Noah  Fearing,  the  town  clerk,  not 
in  their  proper  place,  but  in  a  part  of  the 
book  where  they  would  be  concealed  from 
general  observation.^ 

1  "  Voated  to  aggom  this  meeting  from  ye  meeting  house 
onto  an  Oack  tree  out  of  Doors." —  Wareham  Records, 
June,  1771.  "Voated  the  town  meetings  for  the  Futer  be 
holden  in  the  Porch  Chamber  of  the  meeting  House  and  if 
at  any  time  the  Selectmen  thinck  that  their  wants  more 
Room  for  to  hold  any  town  meeting  then  to  order  the 
Doors  opened  that  the  People  Go  into  the  Gallarys  if  they 
see  cause." —  Wareham  Records,  March,  1772. 


TOWN  LIFE  JN  THE  REVOLUTION.      171 

It  appears  to  have  been  a  caucus  of  par- 
tisans, aided  by  the  town  clerk,  who  sym- 
pathized with  the  spirit  of  rebelHon,  as  his 
subsequent  conduct  showed.  It  was  an  illus- 
tration of  the  manner  in  which  the  Boston 
Committee  of  Correspondence  seized  upon 
the  authority  of  a  town's  name  to  manufac- 
ture a  public  opinion  hostile  to  Great  Britain, 
wherever  such  an  opinion  did  not  exist. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
farmers  of  Wareham  —  loyal,  contented,  in- 
dustrious, and  living  remote  from  the  strife 
of  politics  —  felt  any  interest  in  the  plans  of 
the  Boston  committee,  or  in  its  theories  of 
natural  rights.  Indeed,  the  theories  of  this 
committee  were  at  odds  with  those  of  the 
legislature  of  the  province,  which  only  two 
years  previous,  March  27,  1771,  had  accepted 
an  address  from  the  town  of  Ashfield  declar- 
ing that  "natural  rights  are  in  this  province 
wholly  superseded  by  civil  obligations,  and 
in  matters  of  taxation  individuals  cannot 
with  the  least  propriety  plead  them." 

As  the  town  had  always  been  contented  to 
be  without  a  representative  in  the  legislature, 
while  paying  the  province  taxes,  it  had  prac- 
tically assented  to  the  principle  of  "  taxation 


172     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

without  representation,"  which  had  become  a 
subject  of  contention  in  the  refractory  town 
of  Boston.  In  1773  it  was  fined  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court  six  pounds  "  for  not  sending  a 
Representative."  At  the  same  time  other 
towns  to  the  number  of  thirty  were  fined  for 
the  same  default ;  an  indication  that  a  large 
part  of  the  rural  population  of  the  province 
felt  no  interest  in  the  political  questions 
agitated  at  that  time.^     It  does  not  appear 

1  This  lack  of  interest  is  also  shown  in  the  trivial  ex- 
cuses commonly  made  by  towns  petitioning  the  General 
Court  for  a  remission  of  fines  imposed  for  not  sending  a 
representative.  In  1771  the  town  of  Westford  prayed  for 
a  remission  of  a  fine  of  eight  pounds  because  it  "  was  at 
the  expence  of  Building  a  new  meeting  house."  The  ex- 
cuse of  Southboro'  was  —  "greater  expence  than  usual  in 
supporting  their  Poor  in  making  and  repairing  Bridges 
and  Roads."  The  excuse  of  Sherboum  was  —  "great  ex- 
pence  in  rebuilding  their  meeting  house  and  settling  a 
minister."  The  excuse  of  Chelsea  was  —  "  the  smallness 
of  the  said  Town  and  the  poverty  of  its  Inhabitants."  The 
excuse  of  Upton  was  —  "great  expence  in  building  a  meet- 
ing house  and  a  prospect  of  further  expence  in  purchasing 
Roads  to  the  said  House."  The  excuse  of  George  Town 
was  —  "  as  the  Inhabitants  were  in  very  distressing  circum- 
stances occasioned  by  the  destruction  of  their  Grass  by 
Worms."  The  alleged  destruction  of  their  liberties  by 
the  British  Parliament  was  of  less  importance  than  the 
destruction  of  grass  by  worms  ! 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.     1 73 

that  the  town  sent  any  delegate  to  the  im- 
portant convention  called  by  inhabitants  of 
Boston  in  1768,  at  which  ninety-six  towns  of 
Massachusetts  were  said  to  be  represented, 
to  protest  against  the  revenue  acts,  taxing 
the  colonies,  quartering  troops  upon  the 
people,  and  other  perils  threatening,  as  was 
supposed,  their  liberties.  The  import  tax  on 
tea — "That  worst  of  Plagues,  the  detestable 
Tea,"  as  the  "Sons  of  Liberty"  called  it  — 
had  been  reduced  from  twelve  pence  to  three 
pence  the  pound ;  and  the  Wareham  farmers 
had  no  interest  in  joining  in  a  revolt  against 
it  with  the  Boston  importers  and  tradesmen, 
who,  as  smugglers,  had  long  been  defrauding 
the  King's  revenue. 

There  was  at  this  time  a  good  deal  of  loy- 
alty to  the  King  in  the  Old  Colony.  Many 
families  had  always  kept  bright  the  lion  and 
unicorn  in  the  back  of  the  chimney,  and  if 
they  avoided  discussions  with  revolutionists 
they  were  none  the  less  proud  in  the  fact 
that  they  were  natural-born  and  loyal  sub- 
jects of  Old  England.  In  1773  they  caused 
to  be  dissolved  the  celebrated  Old  Colony 
Club  of  Plymouth,  an  institution  established 


174   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

to  keep  green  the  memory  of  the  Pilgrims, 
rather  than  allow  its  name  to  be  used  as  rep- 
resenting rebellion  against  the  King.  It  was 
this  condition  of  public  opinion  that  justified 
James  Warren,  the  originator  of  the  commit- 
tee of  correspondence,  in  declaring  to  Sam- 
uel Adams  that  the  Plymouth  County  towns 
could  not  be  aroused  except  by  a  power  that 
would  arouse  the  dead.  Deeds  and  other 
private  documents  written  by  the  colonists 
of  that  period,  when  referring  to  the  royal 
government,  exhibit  a  veneration  for  the  King 
which  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  words  of 
the  orators  and  tavern  and  wharf  idlers  who 
controlled  public  opinion  in  Boston.  "Join 
us  or  die  ! "  was  their  cry  early  and  late.^ 

1 "  There  was  at  the  same  time  in  and  about  Boston  a 
large  mob  element  professing  ardent  patriotism,  and  com- 
monly regarded  as  auxiliary  to  the  movements  which  issued 
in  the  war  of  independence.  I  believe  that  this  element 
was  in  every  respect  as  harmful  and  detrimental  as  it  was 
unlawful  and  immoral ;  that  it  thinned  the  ranks  of  the 
patriots,  disgusted  many  worthy  citizens  with  the  cause 
which  it  professed  to  further,  and  was  of  unspeakable  bene- 
fit to  the  neighboring  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick  in  giving  them  from  among  the  exiles  from  Mas- 
sachusetts the  best  judges,  lawyers,  clergymen,  and  men  of 
elegant  culture  that  they  have  ever  had,  including  not  a 
few  graduates  of  Harvard  College."  —  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Pea- 
body''s  address  to  the  Bostonian  Society,  April,  1888. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.     1 75 

As  the  farmers  of  Wareham  had  frequent 
intercourse  with  the  neighboring  village  of 
Bedford,  where  the  famous  tea-ship  Dart- 
mouth was  owned,  they  probably  knew  of  her 
arrival  at  Boston,  and  that  an  excited  multi- 
tude in  the  Old  South  meeting  -  house  had 
resolved  to  boycott  all  teas  until  the  import 
tax  was  removed.  They  knew  also  that  the 
tea-chests  and  their  contents  had  been  thrown 
overboard,  as  if  they  were,  as  Samuel  Adams 
classed  them,  "inveterate  enemies"  of  the 
country.  They  also  may  have  heard  of  the 
Boston  port  bill,  an  act  of  Parliament  to  sus- 
pend the  foreign  and  coastwise  trade  of  Bos- 
ton as  a  punishment  for  the  tea-chest  riot ; 
but  they  made  no  sign.  Gifts  of  cattle,  fish, 
firewood,  pork,  clothing,  butter,  flour,  grain, 
vegetables,  and  money  were  sent  to  Boston 
from  many  towns  to  relieve  its  distress  under 
the  port  bill,  during  the  summer  of  1774. 
The  records  show  that  nothing  was  sent  from 
Wareham. 

A  few  months  later  a  lawless  event  in  their 
neighborhood  brought  to  the  notice  of  the 
Wareham  farmers  the  disturbed  condition  of 
public  affairs.  A  large  number  of  young 
men  met  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Rochester, 


176    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

September  26,  1774,  and  organized  them- 
selves "to  make  an  excursion  into  the  county 
of  Barnstable,"  and  there  by  forcible  means 
to  prevent  the  Inferior  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  from  holding  its  regular  session.  This 
was  one  of  the  oldest  courts  in  the  province ; 
its  jurymen  were  selected  in  town  meeting ; 
from  its  decisions  an  appeal  could  be  taken 
to  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature  in  which 
jurors  were  drawn  by  the  sheriff.  Political 
agitators  declared  that  the  method  of  draw- 
ing jurors  by  a  sheriff,  instead  of  drawing 
them  "  out  of  the  box  "  in  town  meeting,  put 
in  jeopardy  the  rights  of  the  people.^  By 
breaking  up  the  county  court  it  was  intended 

1  "May  ye  3d  1756  the  Town  chose  Simon  Hathaway 
Petit  Jureyman  as  the  Law  Directs  by  Drawing  him  out 
the  Box  to  Serve  for  Trials  at  the  next  Inferior  Court  to 
be  holden  att  Plymouth."  —  "July  ye  13  day  1756  The 
Town  Drawd  Thomas  Whitten  out  of  the  Box  to  Serve 
on  ye  Petitt  Jurey." —  Wareham  Records,  1756. 

"About  eight  o'clock  Sunday  evening  there  passed  by 
here  about  two  hundred  men  .  .  .  they  had  taken  Vinton 
(the  Sheriff)  .  .  .  they  called  upon  him  to  deliver  two 
warrants  (for  juries).  Upon  his  producing  them  they 
made  a  circle  and  burnt  them.  They  then  called  a  vote 
whether  they  should  huzza  but  it  being  Sunday  evening  it 
passed  in  the  negative."  —  Letter  of  Abigail  Adams,  Brairi' 
tree,  14  September,  1774. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION     1 77 

to  destroy  an  avenue  through  which  business 
could  pass  to  the  higher  tribunal. 

This  band  of  young  men,  intent  on  disor- 
der, styled  itself  "  The  Body  of  the  People," 
a  title  which  recalls  the  three  tailors  of  Too- 
ley  Street,  who  in  an  address  to  Parliament 
styled  themselves,  "  We  the  People  of  Eng- 
land." It  passed  through  Wareham,  where 
it  was  joined  by  Noah  Fearing,  John  Gibbs, 
Nathan  Briggs,  and  Salathiel  Bumpus,  and 
arrived  at  Sandwich  in  the  same  evening. 
The  next  morning  it  marched  to  Barnstable, 
a  part  on  foot,  a  part  on  horseback,  a  drum- 
corps  at  its  head,  and  Wareham  men  or  boys 
riding  as  guards  in  its  rear.  On  arriving  at 
Barnstable  the  band  was  increased  to  a  large 
mob,  which  took  possession  of  the  grounds 
in  front  of  the  court-house  and  sent  scouts 
through  the  town  to  ferret  out  loyal  people 
and  compel  them  to  renounce  "  toryism." 
The  justices,  who  were  dining  together,  were 
notified  that  the  "  Body  of  the  People  "  de- 
sired them  not  to  open  the  court  and  would 
send  them  an  order  to  that  effect  in  writing. 
These  worthy  men  received  the  order,  and 
soon  appeared  in  the  street,  wearing  their 
official  robes,  and  led  by  the  high  sheriff,  on 


178     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

their  way  to  the  court-house  to  discharge 
their  duties.  As  the  mob  did  not  make  way, 
the  chief  justice  asked  for  what  purpose  they 
were  assembled.  The  leader  of  the  mob, 
standing  on  the  court-house  steps,  replied,  in 
the  style  of  a  modern  politician,  "  All  that  is 
dear  to  us  and  the  welfare  of  unborn  millions 
direct  us  to  prevent  the  court  from  being 
opened."  To  this  the  chief  justice  answered, 
—  according  to  the  report  written  by  a  Roch- 
ester boy  named  Abraham  Holmes,  who  was 
one  of  the  mob,  —  "  This  is  a  constitutional 
court,  the  jurors  have  been  drawn  from  the 
boxes  as  the  law  directs,  why  do  you  inter- 
rupt us .''  " 

The  leader  then  justified  himself  by  the 
reply :  "  But  from  the  decisions  of  this 
court  an  appeal  lies  to  a  court  whose  judges 
hold  office  during  the  King's  pleasure,  over 
which  we  have  no  control !  " 

The  mob  prevented  the  session  of  the 
court  and  compelled  the  justices  to  sign  cer- 
tain political  obligations  in  harmony  with  its 
own  views.  It  was  not  dispersed  until  it  had 
made  a  general  disturbance  in  the  town,  had 
resolved  to  boycott  British  goods,  and  to  sup- 
press peddlers  who  sold  Bohea  tea. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.      1 79 

While  such  events  were  transpiring  there 
was  nothing  written  upon  the  town  records 
indicating  any  sympathy  with  the  rebelhon. 
Town  meetings  were  held,  as  usual,  and  the 
Town's  Mind  expressed  its  will  in  regard  to 
sheep,  foxes,  hogs,  alewives,  highways,  the 
minister,  the  schoolmaster,  the  meeting- 
house, the  rates,  the  paupers,  as  it  had  done 
in  preceding  years. 

Then  came  the  year  1775.  and  the  town 
records  began  to  speak  as  follows  :  — 

"  At  a  Town  meeting  regularly  warnd  &  held  in 
Wareham  January  ye  16  i775  made  i^^  choice  of 
Capt  Noah  Fearing  moderator.  2'^  Voted  not  to 
Send  A  man  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  3^^  Voted 
to  allow  to  each  minute  man  I^  4".  per  Week. 
4!^  voted  not  to  make  any  Province  and  County 
tax.  s'y  Voted  to  adjourn  to  February  ye  6th 
Day." 

The  wages  fixed  for  minute  men,  the  vote 
about  the  province  tax,  the  refusal  to  send  a 
representative  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
show  that  rebellion  was  in  the  air,  but  its 
spirit  had  not  yet  seized  upon  the  town.  The 
little  that  exhibited  itself  had  probably  been 
worked  up  by  the  moderator,  who  was  one  of 
the  principal  men  engaged  in  the  Barnstable 


l8o    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

riot.i  The  next  town  meeting  was  held  on 
the  20th  of  March  ;  when  it  was  voted  "  to 
Purchase  six  Guns  for  use  of  ye  Town,"  and 
the  minute  men,  having  no  occupation  by 
which  they  could  earn  the  one  shilling  and 
four  pence  (22    cents)  per  week  which    the 

1  "  At  an  adjourned  Town  meeting  held  in  Wareham 
the  6th  Day  of  February  1775 

ily  Voted  not  to  allow  to  the  Revd  Mr  Thacher  anything 
for  the  year  Past  more  than  his  Stated  Salery 

2dly  Voted  to  vendue  the  Ministree  Lands  &  meadows 
in  the  West  End  of  ye  Town  the  Improvement  of  it  for 
one  year  &  the  Profits  to  go  towards  Defraying  the  Revd 
Mr  Thachers  Sallery 

3dly  Voted  Deacon  Willm  Blackmer  &  Samll  Savery  & 
Joshua  Briggs  Be  a  Committy  to  Vendue  the  same 

4ly  Voted  to  Pay  the  Province  tax  to  Andw  Mackie  & 
he  to  keep  it  till  the  town  Shall  order  it  otherways 

5ly  Voted  To  Dissolve  the  meeting." 

"By  Virtue  of  the  annual  Warrant  Set  up  by  the  Select 
Men  The  Town  met  together  on  Monday  the  twentieth 
Day  of  March  1775  &  acted  as  follows  — 

ily  made  Choice  of  Capt  Noah  Fearing  moderator 

adly  Chose  Andrew  Mackie  Town  Clerk 

-jdly  Voted  to  chuse  three  Select  Men  one  in  each  End 
&  one  in  the  Middle  part  of  the  Town 

4ly  Chose  Ebenz  Briggs  Smll  Savery  Capt  Noah  Fear- 
ing Selectmen  &  Assesors 

5'y  Voted  to  hire  constables 

61y  Chose  Barnabas  Bump  Jabez  Besse  Jur  Wardions 

7ly  Capt  Fearing  Thomas  Whitten  Joseph  Bump  2d  Sur- 
veyor of  highways 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.       l8l 

town  had  engaged  to  pay  them— were  or- 
dered "  to  assist  in  takeing  Care  of  the  Ale- 
wives."  On  the  3d  of  April  it  was  "voted 
not  to  allow  the  minute  men  Wages  any 
longer." 

The    news    of    the   battle   at    Lexington 

81y  Ebenz  Swift  Rowland  Thacher  fence  Viewers 
gly  Thomas  Norris  Prince  Burgess  Tything  men 
loly  Saml  Savery  Surveyor  of  Lumber  Sealor  of  weights 
and  measures 

Illy  Joseph  Sturdifant  Samll  Briggs  Enos  Howard  Hog 
Reaves 

I2ly  Jabez  Burgess  Sealer  of  leather 
I3ly  Zepheniah  Bump  Jonathan  Gibbs  Deer  Men 
I4ly  Deacon  Blackmer  Thomas  Whetten  John  Fear  Jig 
Nathan  Briggs  Barnabas  Bate  to  take  Care  of  the  Ale- 
wives 

i5ly  Voted  for  Capt  Israel  Fearing  with  his  company  to 
assist  in  takeing  Care  of  the  Alewives 

l61y  Voted  that  there  should  be  no  Shell  fish  nor  shells 
sold  nor  carryed  out  of  town. 

1717  Chose   David    Nye   Jonathan    Gibbs   Jesse    Swift 
Saml  Swift  to  Inform  relating  to  the  Shell  fish 

iSly  Chose  Jeremiah  Bump  Town  treasurer  to  serve  for 
one  Dollar 

igly  Voted  Sheep  to  go  at  large  without  a  Shepherd  & 
Swine  yoked  &  ringed. 

2oly  Voted  to  lay  out  the  road  by  Zepheniah  Bump  if  it 
could  be  done  without  Purchasing  any  land 

2ily  Voted  to  Purchase  Six  Guns  for  use  of  ye  Town 
lastly  Voted  to  adjourn  this  annual  meeting  to  the  twenty 
fourth  Day  of  April  three  o'Clock  afternoon  " 


1 82     COLONIAL  TLMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

reached  Wareham  by  a  rider  from  Boston  on 
the  20th  of  April.  When  the  town  met  on 
the  24th,  no  allusion  to  the  battle  was  made, 
and  the  meeting  was  adjourned  for  five 
months,  with  as  little  concern  as  to  the  mag- 
nitude of  current  events,  as  if  they  involved 
no  issues  greater  than  those  which  had  in- 
terested town  meetings  in  previous  years.  On 
receipt  of  the  news  from  Lexington  a  com- 
pany of  militia  started  for  Boston,  and  an- 
other  started  for    Marshfield,   where  many 

"  At  Town  meeting  regularly  wamd  held  on  the  third 
Day  of  April  1775  — 

ily  chose  Capt  Noah  Fearing  moderator 

2dly  chose  Sam'  Savery  Deacon  Blackmer  Joshua  Gibbs 
Noah  Fearing  Barnabas  Bates  to  be  a  Committee  to  Ven- 
due the  Improvement  of  the  ministree  lands  &  meadows 
for  one  year 

3<ily  Voted  not  to  allow  the  minute  men  Wages  any 
longer 

4ly  chose  Lieut  John  Gibbs  to  Provide  a  minister  for  the 
town  &  a  Place  for  him  to  bord  at 

lastly  Voted  to  adjourn  this  meeting  to  the  twenty  fourth 
of  this  Instant  at  two  o'Clock." 

"Town  Meeting  April  24th,  1775.    Voted 

ily  to  Pay  the  Province  tax  to  Henry  Gardner  Esq'  of 

Stowe 
2dly  to  adjourn  this  meeting  to  i8th  September  next."—. 

Wareham  Records,  1775. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.     1 83 

loyalists  were  living  under  protection  of  the 
King's  troops.  The  latter  company  was  com- 
manded by  Major  Israel  Fearing,  whose  wife, 
Lucy  Bourne,  was  an  ardent  loyalist.  The 
tradition  is  that  as  he  passed  out  of  his  door 
to  lead  the  men  who  were  waiting  for  him, 
his  wife,  desiring  to  prevent  his  going,  seized 
fast  to  the  skirts  of  his  military  coat.  But, 
like  Captain  Sir  Dilberry  Diddle  in  the  song, 

"  Said  he  to  his  lady,  My  lady,  I'll  go  ; 
My  company  calls  me,  you  must  not  say  no," 

and  he  broke  away  from  her,  leaving  a  part  of 
his  uniform  in  her  hands. 

During  the  summer  of  1775  the  town  was 
principally  interested  in  efforts  to  make  a 
shrewd  bargain  with  Josiali  Cotton  —  "  to 
see,"  as  the  records  state  it,  "  on  what  Terms 
he  will  Preach  and  on  what  Terms  he  would 
settle,"  and  in  preparing  for  the  festivities 
which  were  to  celebrate  his  ordination  in  the 
new  meeting-house.  An  indifference  to  pub- 
lic affairs  continued  until  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  when  the  town  was  called 
upon  to  express  its  preference  for  a  new  form 
of  government ;  and  it  declared  in  favor  of 
that  which  had  been  enjoyed  under  the 
colonial  charter,  in  these  words  :  — 


1 84     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

"  At  a  town  meeting  regularly  warnd  &  held 
on  October  ye  14 :  1776  To  Consider  of  a  request 
from  the  Hon"*  Generall  Court.  Resolved  as 
follows :  that  we  Judge  it  best  that  ye  Plan  of 
Government  by  ye  late  Charter  viz  by  the  house 
of  Representatives  And  Councill  be  still  contin- 
ued &  strictly  adhered  to  &  that  no  alteration  be 
made  therein  Respecting  a  form  of  Government 
at  least  during  the  present  war." 

This  expression  of  opinion  was  elicited  by 
a  decree  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  M^hich, 
since  the  first  events  of  the  Revolution,  as- 
sumed to  act  as  the  government.  It  had  al- 
ready ordered  that  legal  writs  and  processes 
should  no  longer  run  in  the  name  of  the 
King,  but  in  the  name  of  "  the  government 
and  people  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England,"  and  the  towns  had  been  requested 
to  instruct  their  delegates  on  the  subject  of 
independence,  and  to  empower  them  to  adopt 
a  new  "  frame  of  government." 

The  revolutionary  cause  had  now  become 
the  fashion  and  craze  of  the  day.^     Open  loy- 

1  "The  American  Revolution,  like  most  others,  was  the 
work  of  an  energetic  minority  who  succeeded  in  commit- 
ting an  undecided  and  fluctuating  majority  to  courses  for 
which  they  had  little  love,  and  leading  them  step  by  step 
to  a  position  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  recede."—" 
Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.       185 
alists,  who  were  mainly  of  the  most  respecta- 
ble and  substantial  class  of  citizens,  had  been 
driven  out  of  the  colonies,  their  property  was 
to  be  confiscated,  rebels  were  to  be  trans- 
formed into  patriots,  and  the  time  had  come 
when  no  man  nor  measures  could  reconcile 
the  people  of  Massachusetts  to  British  rule. 
In  every  town  an  organized  system  of  intimi- 
dation, or  bulldozing,  was  put  in  operation, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  coerce  the  agri- 
cultural population  into  permanent  rebellion 
against  Great  Britain.     It  was  first  author- 
ized  by  a  resolve  of  the  Great  and  General 
Court  in  February,  1776,  directing  the  towns 
of  Massachusetts  to  choose,  by  the  written 
votes  of  persons  qualified  to  vote  in  town 
meetings,  a  certain   number  of   freeholders 
whose  principles  were  known  to  be  friendly 
to  the  "Rights  and  Liberties  of  America," 
to  serve  as  a  "  Committee  of  Correspondence, 
Inspection,  and  Safety."     William  Rotch,  in 
his  memoirs  of  those  times,  says:    "There 
were  so  many  petty  officers,  as  Committees 
of  Safety,  Inspection  &c.  in  all  parts,  and  too 
many  of  them  chosen  much  upon  the  prin- 
ciple  of   Jeroboam's   Priests,   that  we  were 
sorely  afSicted."    Wareham  elected  this  com- 


1 86     COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

mittee  every  year  during  the  war.  It  was 
charged  to  ascertain  what  inhabitants  vio- 
lated the  resolves,  directions,  or  recommen- 
dations of  the  Continental  Congress,  or  of 
the  General  Court,  respecting  the  struggle 
with  Great  Britain.  Such  persons  were  to 
be  arrested  and  confined  in  the  county  jail, 
"  without  the  use  of  Fire  or  Candle  Pen  Ink 
&  Paper  or  conversing  with  any  Person 
whomsoever."  The  committee  arrested  those 
who  said,  "  Damn  the  country ! "  ^  and  those 
who  sold  tea,  or  who,  in  order  to  evade  the 
stigma  of  "  tory,"  drank  it  secretly  in  their 
families.  They  removed  those  whose  resi- 
dence in  the  town  was  thought  to  be  incom- 
patible with  public  safety ;  they  filed  infor- 
mation before  the  justices  against  persons 

1  "  Information  being  given  to  this  Committee  that  one 
Isaac  Harper  had  behaved  in  a  very  unfriendly  manner  to 
his  country,  —  Several  Persons  were  sent  for  to  be  in- 
quired of.  Mr  Thomas  Moor  attends,  and  informd  the 
Committee  that  he  heard  said  Harper  Damn  the  Country. 
Mr  William  Daws  attends  and  says  that  he  had  been  often 
at  Harpers  House  and  discoursed  him,  and  that  he  had 
heard  him  say  that  we  were  more  arbitrary  than  the  regu- 
lars—  that  he  had  rather  be  with  them  than  us.  Voted 
that  complaint  be  entered  with  the  Court  of  Enquiry 
against  Isaac  Harper  of  this  Town  as  a  Person  inimical  to 
the  American  States." — Records  of  Boston  Committee. 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.       187 

whom  they  suspected ;  they  watched  chan- 
nels through  which  information  might  be 
carried  to  the  enemy,  examined  private  let- 
ters, detained  trading  vessels  and  fishing 
boats,  kept  a  list  of  persons  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  ordered  them  on  parade,  appointed 
officers  to  command  them,  fined  those  who 
failed  to  answer  the  muster  roll,  and  from 
the  ranks  of  this  militia  they  drafted  recruits 
for  the  Continental  army. 

There  are  no  means  of  knowing  how  vig- 
orously this  committee  worked  in  Wareham, 
as  its  records  have  not  been  found.  But  the 
records  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  commis- 
sioned by  the  new  Commonwealth,  indicate 
that  the  committee  had  to  do  with  some  of 
the  most  respectable  residents  of  the  town:— 

"On  ye  Third  Day  of  June  1778  in  ye  Name 
of  ye  Government  and  People  of  ye  Masschussis 
Bay  in  New  England  Personally  appeared  Before 
me  Noah  Fearing  Esqr  one  of  ye  Justices  of  ye 
Peace  for  ye  County  of  Plymo  David  Besse  and 
Joshua  Crocker  Both  of  Wareham  and  acknol- 
idged  themselves  to  stand  Bound  each  in  ye  Sum 
of  two  hundred  pounds  For  that  Doer  Andrew 
Mackie  of  Wareham  Shall  appear  at  ye  next  In- 
ferior Court  of  General  Sessions  of  ye  peace  to 
be  holden  at  Barnstable  within  and  for  sd  County 


1 88     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

their  to  answer  to  an  Inditement  Found  against 
him  by  ye  Grand  Jurey  in  April  Courte  Last. 
Noah  Fearing  Justice  of  ye  Peace." 

Bondsmen  also  appeared  before  this  justice 
and  bound  themselves  to  produce  Rowland 
Thacher  and  Martha  Fearing  of  Wareham 
before  the  same  court,  whose  next  session 
was  to  be  held  "  on  ye  Last  Tuesday  of  this 
Instant  June."  As  the  records  of  this  court 
were  destroyed  with  the  burning  of  the  Barn- 
stable court-house  in  October,  1827,  no  ex- 
planation of  the  proceedings  can  be  made. 

Nearly  one  hundred  men  of  the  town 
served  in  the  war.  Powder  was  bought  for 
public  use  ;  and  when, 

"  In  their  ragged  regimentals 
Stood  the  old  Continentals 

Yielding  not, 
While  the  grenadiers  were  lunging 
And  like  hail  fell  the  plunging 
Cannon  shot," 

the  town  sent  clothing,  rations,  and  recruits 
to  support  them.  As  the  struggle  was  car- 
ried on  at  a  distance,  the  townspeople  suf- 
fered from  none  of  its  desolations,  but  they 
felt  the  great  burden  of  the  war  in  repeated 
calls  for  money,  in  the  disturbance  which  it 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.       189 

produced  in  their  ways  and  means  of  living, 
and  in  the  yearly  increase  of  the  public  taxes, 
which  caused  the  prices  of  all  articles  to  ad- 
vance rapidly.  In  order  to  prevent  traders 
from  practicing  extortion  in  the  sale  of  the 
necessities  of  life,  —  after  the  manner  of 
modern  "  trusts," —  the  legislature  passed  an 
act  under  which  "  John  Fearing  Esquire 
Joshua  Gibbs  and  David  Nye  were  chosen  to 
see  that  there  Bee  no  Forestalling  or  Mono- 
polizing in  ye  Towne."  Nevertheless  office- 
holding  was  not  without  profit.  Two  per 
cent,  was  paid  in  1779  for  "going  to  Boston 
to  fetch  the  money  due  to  the  town,"  and 
frequent  official  journeys  were  made  at  public 
expense.^ 

1  The  following  extract  from  a  petition  to  the  General 
Court  in  November,  1779,  from  "Several  Towns  in  the 
County  of  Lincoln,"  may  be  considered  as  describing  the 
condition  of  the  rural  population  of  Massachusetts  at  that 
time :  "  When  we  Look  about  us  and  behold  the  Dis- 
tress of  the  People  almost  Destitute  of  most  of  the  Neces- 
saries of  Life,  no  E.xports  or  Imports  by  Sea  as  Usual  in 
time  past,  whereby  our  wood  and  Lumber,  the  Little  we 
got  in  our  perplexd  Circumstances  Lays  upon  our  hands, 
and  no  provision  brought  to  us,  and  no  money  to  purchase 
any  with,  we  Stand  amazd  at  the  Prospect,  and  when  we 
Look  forward  and  behold  the  Monsterous  Taxes  that  are 
Laid  upon  us,  and  no  money  to  Pay  it  with,  we  are  Aston- 
ishd  &  know  not  what  to  do."     "  We  humbly  trust  we  may 


1 90     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

In  1780  the  town  was  taxed  £,\o^  for  the 
redemption  of  bills  of  credit  and  for  paying 
interest  in  specie  on  notes  issued  by  "  the 
Province  colony  or  now  State  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay ;"  and  it  was  also  taxed  £Zo<^^  for 
defraying  the  public  charges  and  carrying 
into  execution  the  resolves  of  Congress.  In 
the  same  year  the  town  paid  to  each  of  its 
six  months'  recruits  for  the  army,  "  sixty- 
nine  silver  dollars  and  one  hundred  and 
thirty  dollars  as  mileage  money."  In  1781 
it  held  a  lottery  "  to  raise  two  hundred  and 
eighty  hard  dollars  to  raise  soldiers  with  ; " 
at  the  same  time  it  sent  nearly  ten  thousand 
pounds  of  beef  to  the  Continental  army.  On 
the  nth  of  February,  1784,  its  war  record 
was  closed  by  ordering  its  British  colors  to 
be  sold,  and  by  voting  "  that  the  five  years 
Pay  granted  to  the  Continental  officers  is 
Unjust  and  Ought  Not  to  be  Paid  them." 
This  opinion  was  universal  with  the  rural 
population  of  Massachusetts,  which  had  been 
impoverished  by  the  war,  and  it  found  ex- 

Decently  petition  that  Power  which  has  Taxed  us  Unrep- 
resented, as  we  have  a  President  from  these  Colonies  of 
Partitioning  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britan  in  a  Similar 
Case." 


TOWN  LIFE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.      IQl 

pression  in  many  resolves  as  bitter  as  those 
adopted  by  the  neighboring  town  of  Roch- 
ester :  "  That  however  the  power  of  Con- 
gress may  be  we  think  the  Grant  by  them 
made  to  sd  ofificers  was  obtained  by  undue 
influence  &  if  no  Negative  to  sd  Grant  is 
yet  to  be  admitted,  notwithstanding  all  their 
good  services  we  shall  esteem  them  Public 
Nusances  &  Treat  them  in  that  Curracter." 

The  army  had  become  a  power  greater 
than  the  State,  and  it  was  not  ready  to  dis- 
band, after  peace  had  been  declared,  without 
some  unusual  recognition  of  its  importance. 
Abigail  Adams,  writing  from  Braintree  in 
June,  1783,  said:  "Congress  has  commuted 
with  the  army  by  engaging  to  them  five 
years'  pay  in  lieu  of  half-pay  for  life.  With 
security  for  this  they  will  disband  contented ; 
but  our  wise  legislators  are  about  disputing 
the  power  of  Congress  to  do  either,  without 
considering  their  hands  in  the  mouth  of  the 
lion,  and  that,  if  the  just  and  necessary  food 
is  not  supplied,  the  outrageous  animal  may 
become  so  ferocious  as  to  spread  horror  and 
devastation."  So  the  farmers  of  Wareham 
and  Rochester  had  reason  for  their  opinions. 


XIIL 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER  THE  WAR. 

EACE  was  welcomed  by  everybody. 
Although  the  town  warrants  ran  no 
more  in  His  Majesty's  name,  and  the 
Revolution  had  effaced  all  marks  of  the  royal 
authority,  the  customs  and  manners  of  the 
people  had  suffered  no  change.  Farmers  at- 
tended again  to  their  own  business — ship- 
ping away  timber  and  firewood  cut  on  the 
decrease  of  the  moon,  making  salt  by  the 
evaporation  of  sea  water,  building  vessels, 
increasing  their  flocks  of  sheep,  gathering 
iron  ore  from  the  bottoms  of  ponds,  making 
charcoal  for  forges  recently  set  up,  and  nails 
from  slit  iron  rods  in  their  home  smithies. 
To  those  who  had  been  induced  to  neglect 
their  farms  for  the  sake  of  the  war,  peace 
brought  many  discouragements  ;  and  when 
stories  came  of  fertile  lands  to  be  had  in 
the  region  known  as  the  Ohio,  the  pressure 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE    WAR.         1 93 

of  poverty,  and  perhaps  of  public  opinion 
also,  caused  an  emigration  thither,  and  to  the 
district  of  Maine,  as  well  as  to  places  less 
remote,  of  some  who  had  been  active  in 
encouraging  the  war.  From  the  following 
quaint  soliloquy,  written  in  Israel  Fearing's 
account-book  by  a  young  woman  descended 
from  him,  it  may  be  inferred  that  many  re- 
grets were  felt  on  leaving  the  ancestral 
homes :  — 

"  The  painful  hour  is  fast  approaching  when  I 
must  say  adieu  to  my  native  place.  My  home, 
days  of  my  cherished  youth  farewell.  The  pain 
of  sepperation  is  continually  hovering  on  my 
mind  when  I  must  extend  a  parting  hand  to  many 
dear  relatives.  The  fond  recollection  of  the  many 
happy  hours  I  have  spent  in  their  edefying  com- 
pany fill  me  with  raptures,  and  now  often  drenches 
my  eys  in  tears." 

From  early  times  there  had  been  a  path 
through  bars  and  gates  along  the  river's  side 
from  the  centre  village  to  the  Narrows.  It 
was  opened  as  a  highway  after  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  until  recent  years  it  was  a  thor- 
oughfare of  sand,  into  which  the  ship-car- 
penter cast  his  chips,  the  harness-maker  his 
scraps,    the   tinman   his   clippings,   and    the 


194    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

butcher  his  bones.  Now  it  is  a  smooth,  broad 
road,  hardened  by  oyster  shells,  on  which 
summer  visitors  disport  themselves  in  their 
equipages,  and  the  owner  of  fast  horses  tries 
their  speed.  It  ended  at  the  ferry  which  was 
kept  by  a  "  sutable  person "  appointed  by 
the  town,  who  was  allowed  to  charge  two 
pence  for  a  passage  in  his  boat.  From  the 
ferry  stones  on  the  Agawame  side  of  the 
river  was  an  old  road,  called  by  the  first  plant- 
ers the  Woonkinco  Way.  Now,  shaded  by 
oaks,  it  is  a  pleasant  way  to  the  dwelling 
houses  of  urban  families  along  the  shore, 
whose  yachts  may  be  seen  on  summer  days 
trolling  the  bay  or  bound  on  pleasure  cruises. 
Near  the  ferry  at  the  Narrows  several 
houses  were  built,  on  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
one  now  standing  has  some  celebrity  as  having 
been  the  home  of  John  Kendrick,  discoverer 
of  the  Columbia  River,  who  sailed  from  Bos- 
ton in  1787  as  master  of  the  ship  Columbia. 
She  returned  in  1790,  having,  it  is  said,  made 
the  first  American  voyage  around  the  world. 
Four  Lombardy  poplar-trees  stood  in  front  of 
the  house,  and  the  flood  tides  nearly  reached 
its  door-yard  gate.  Now  its  one  solitary  pop- 
lar looks  down  upon  a  busy  street,  which  is 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE    WAR.         1 95 

bordered  on  the  harbor  side  by  warehouses 
and  wharves  where  schooners  are  discharging 
coal  for  iron-works,  and  corn  and  lumber  for 
traders  in  Plymouth  and  Barnstable  counties 
who  come  to  Wareham  for  supplies. 

After  the  war  was  over,  the  farmers  con- 
tinued to  make  their  reckonings  in  colonial 
shillings  and  pence.  They  called  the  quarter 
of  the  Spanish  milled  dollar  a  "  one-and-six," 
the  eighth  was  a  ninepence,  the  sixteenth  a 
fourpence  or  "fopensapny ;"  and  the  coins 
into  which  the  dollar  was  divided  were  kept 
in  circulation  until  the  marks  of  their  origin 
in  the  mint  of  Spain  were  almost  obliterated. 
Their  method  of  trading  with  each  other  is 
shown  by  the  settlement  of  an  account  with  a 
shoemaker,  which  began  in  1780  and  ended  in 
1803.  It  was  credited  every  year  with  shoe- 
making  for  the  family,  and  was  debited  from 
time  to  time  with  salt-hay,  cheese,  mutton, 
molasses,  corn,  tallow,  sheep's  wool,  hire  of 
horse,  hauling  firewood,  sole-leather,  a  goose, 
wheat,  candles,  sugar,  rye,  pork,  and  three 
shillings. 

Money  was  not  abundant ;  farm  products 
were  the  staple  values,  and  were  exchangeable 
at  the  village  stores  for  merchandise.    Sugar, 


196     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

tea,  molasses,  rum,  and  other  comforts  thus 
obtained,  were  kept  on  hand  by  thrifty  farm- 
ers to  be  used  in  paying  for  hired  labor. 

Undisturbed  by  the  political  questions  of 
the  times,  the  Wareham  farmers  kept  the 
noiseless  tenor  of  their  way  as  their  fathers 
had  done  under  the  rule  of  the  King.  In 
early  spring  alewives  came  into  the  rivers, 
and  for  a  while  formed  the  staple  of  trade 
and  conversation.  Their  annual  return  "  with 
such  longing  desire  after  the  fresh  water 
ponds"  —  as  an  old  chronicler  writes — was 
the  most  important  event  of  the  year.  At 
the  birth  of  the  town  the  prosperity  of  ale- 
wives  was  a  public  concern ;  and  from  that 
day  to  this,  these  historic  fishes  have  aroused 
the  state  legislature,  have  vexed  town  meet- 
ings, and  have  formed  a  platform  on  which 
the  rising  politician  has  aired  his  wisdom. 

The  Woonkinco  River,  fed  by  cold  springs 
in  Plymouth  Woods,  and  having  no  ponds  at 
its  source,  was  not  inviting  to  migratory  fish  ; 
for  these  reasons,  the  yield  from  it  was  al- 
ways insignificant,  while  the  Weweantet  and 
Agawame  rivers,  flowing  out  of  large  ponds, 
furnished  attractive  spawning  grounds,  and 
in   these   rivers   the   town's   fishery  yielded 


TOWN  LIFE   AFTER    THE    WAR.         1 97 

large  results.  Two  kinds  of  alewives  came 
to  the  rivers  :  the  larger,  coming  first,  sought 
the  Weweantet,  swarming  in  the  deep  ravine 
called  the  Poles  in  such  numbers  that  it  was 
impossible  for  more  than  a  small  portion  of 
them  to  pass  up  stream  during  an  ebbing 
tide  ;  the  smaller,  called  black  -  backs,  tar- 
ried in  the  bay  until  the  temperature  of  the 
rivers  became  warmer,  and  then  they  invari- 
ably entered  the  Agawame. 

In  colonial  times  the  March  town  meeting  ^ 

1 "  The  Town  meet  att  the  Daj'  and  time  Sot  att  the  ad- 
jurdment.  The  Modarater  Put  to  vote  whether  the  town 
was  for  Haveing  410  Barels  of  hering  Cetcht  out  of  ye 
several  Streems  In  Wareham  ye  Present  year  for  markit 
Provide  the  men  that  Cetcht  them  would  Pay  to  ye  town 
four  shillings  Bountey  on  each  Barel  for  ye  youse  of  the 
town  and  ye  vote  Past  in  the  AflFarmitive. 

oute  of  Weantet  River 300 

oute  of  agewam  River 80 

oute  of  wampinco  River 8 

oute  of  Cohasit  Crick  socaled 16 

oute  of  ye  Brook  By  micah  Gibbs 6 

410 

the  men  that  appeard  in  meeting  to  Cetch  ye  herings  and 
Give  ye  4  pr  Barel  Cap'  fering  for  his  suns  Decon  Joshua 
Gibbs  for  himself  &  Suns  Rowland  Swift  for  himself  But- 
ler Wing  for  himself  and  ye  other  men  Concernd  with  him 
In  ye  fishing  affare." —  Wareham,  Records,  March  31,  1747. 


198     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

fixed  the  number  of  alewives  to  be  caught 
and  the  price  to  be  paid  by  the  catchers.  In 
later  years  a  change  of  this  custom  has  added 
an  important  day  to  the  town's  calendar ;  the 
day  when,  at  the  tavern,  is  sold  by  auction 
to  the  highest  bidder  the  exclusive  right  to 
catch  alewives  on  three  days  of  the  week 
between  sunrise  and  sunset.  On  these  days 
the  buyer  of  the  right  is  obligated  to  sell 
four  hundred  alewives  —  generally  called 
"  herrin'"  —  for  sixty-four  cents  to  each 
householder  applying  for  them,  and  to  give  to 
all  widows  in  the  town  a  barrel-full  of  the  fish 
without  price.  The  cruel  tradition  is  that 
this  "  bar'l  o'herrin  "  has  sometimes  appeared 
to  be,  as  respects  the  support  of  a  dependent 
family,  a  full  compensation  to  the  widow  for 
the  loss  of  him  of  whom  she  was  bereft. 

After  the  townspeople  had  pickled  and 
dried  their  alewives  and  strung  them  on  twigs, 
and  hung  them,  away  from  the  reach  of  do- 
mestic animals,  in  wood-sheds  and  barn-lofts, 
the  season  of  sheep  -  shearing  came,  accom- 
panied with  northeast  winds  and  fogs  from 
the  sea ;  a  weather  called  from  generation 
to  generation  "the  sheep-storm."  In  town- 
meeting  warrants  there  was  always  a  stroke 


TOWN  LIFE   AFTER    THE  WAR.         199 

about  sheep,  and  orders  were  made  that  they 
shall  "not  run  at  large  on  the  Commons 
from  shear  time  til  ye  Twentyeth  of  Decem- 
ber &  if  any  ram  shall  Be  taken  up  the 
Owner  Shall  forfeit  &  Pay  One  dollar."  To 
protect  them  while  pasturing  in  the  woods, 
the  town  kept  four  hounds  and  paid  a  bounty 
for  every  fox's  head  brought  in. 

In  the  autumn,  salt  grass,  shell  fish,  and 
cider  were  cared  for.  In  the  winter,  firewood 
was  cut,  nails  were  wrought  in  the  smithies, 
charcoal  was  made,  the  shoemaker  and  the 
schoolmaster  went  their  round  of  visits.  All 
the  year  through,  intentions  of  marriage  were 
screamed  in  the  meeting-house.  The  town 
clerk  certified  each  intention  in  his  best  style 
of  handwriting,  and  the  minister,  or  the  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  took  the  certificate  and 
three  shillings,  performed  a  marriage  cere- 
mony, and  drank  a  bumper  to  the  new  man 
and  wife. 

The  records  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  begin- 
ning in  1804  show  that  the  jurisdiction  of  this 
court  was  more  extensive  than  it  had  been 
before  the  war.  On  his  farm  he  vegetated 
without  a  law  library,  but  by  his  common 
sense  maintaining  a  tribunal   before   which 


200     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

eminent  lawyers  pleaded  causes.  Once  a 
year  the  town  officers  came  before  him  to 
take  the  oath  of  office,  as  their  predecessors 
came  before  his  father  to  swear  allegiance  to 
King  George  the  Second.  But  now  it  was 
required  of  the  town  constables  to  subscribe 
an  oath  before  the  justice,  in  which  they  did 
"renounce  and  adjure  all  allegiance  subjec- 
tion and  obedience  to  the  King,  Queen,  or 
Government  of  Great  Britain,  and  every 
other  foreign  power  whatsoever." 

The  sessions  of  this  court  were  held  in 
the  dwelling-house  on  Fearing  Hill.  Hither 
came  plaintiffs  and  defendants  from  the  vil- 
lage and  from  neighboring  towns  to  lay  their 
cases  before  the  justice,  who  was  known  in 
all  the  region  as  the  Squire,  and  the  witnesses 
loitered  by  the  lilac -trees  at  the  frontdoor 
while  they  waited  a  summons  to  come  into  his 
presence.  If  the  defendant  did  not  appear 
at  the  time  appointed  for  trial,  his  name  was 
solemnly  called  three  times,  and,  no  response 
being  heard,  judgment  was  immediately  en- 
tered against  him.  The  wardens  brought  in 
all  the  boys  and  girls  whom  they  had  seen 
laughing  in  the  meeting-house,  and  the 
Squire  fined  the  girls  five  shillings  and  the 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE   WAR.        20r 

boys  ten,  for  they  were  able  to  laugh  louder 
than  the  girls.  Persons  against  whom  com- 
plaint had  been  made  for  traveling  on  Sun- 
day, for  raking  hay  on  the  Lord's  Day,  for 
cursing  a  townsman,  or  swearing  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  neighbor,  were  brought  here  to 
pay  the  fines  assessed  by  law  for  the  benefit 
of  the  town's  poor.  He  who  had  been  over- 
taken with  strong  liquor  confessed  his  error 
to  the  Squire  and  paid  to  him  the  penalty 
in  colonial  shillings.  Here  the  constables 
brought  the  culprit  who  had  pulled  an  or- 
chard, or  had  stolen  a  sheep,  or  had  willfully 
knocked  down  a  neighbor,  spat  in  his  face, 
pinched  his  nose,  rubbed  his  ears,  or  other- 
wise maliciously  dishonored  him.  The  Squire 
tried  the  man  accused  of  obstructing  the 
passage  of  alewives  up  the  town's  rivers,  as 
well  as  the  man  who  had  failed  to  appear 
in  the  ranks  of  the  train-band,  according  to 
orders,  on  training  day.  He  listened  to  the 
suit  of  the  schoolteacher  for  her  wages  of 
one  dollar  a  week,  and  to  the  claim  for  dam- 
ages to  her  dignity  because  the  committee- 
man had  locked  her  out  of  the  schoolhouse. 
He  took  the  affirmation  of  the  mother  of  a 
bastard  child,  certified  the  oath  of  the  admin- 


202    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

istrator  of  a  widow's  estate,  recorded  in  sol- 
emn form  confessions  of  debt,  in  which  the 
debtor  pledged  that  the  debt  should  be  paid 
out  of  his  goods,  chattels,  lands,  and  tene- 
ments, "and  in  want  thereof  of  my  body." 
He  issued  writs  against  insolvent  debtors  by 
which  they  were  put  into  the  county  jail, 
condemned  others  who  could  not  satisfy  a 
creditor's  claim  to  a  year's  labor  in  the  cred- 
itor's service,  and  he  "married  together" 
those  who  came  to  him  to  be  married. 

It  was  a  custom  of  the  town  to  put  incom- 
petent persons  under  a  guardian,  and  to  ex- 
ercise parental  authority  over  those  who, 
according  to  public  opinion,  stood  in  need 
of  it.  A  case  of  this  sort  is  described  in 
the  records  as  "  that  business  concerning 
Noah  Bump's  daughter,  that  married  a  certain 
Frye,"  which  the  town  took  in  hand  in  1794. 
This  certain  Frye  was  an  uncertain  vagrant 
who  had  obtained  employment  on  the  farms 
and  whom  an  indigent  daughter  of  Noah 
had  married,  instead  of  marrying  a  coachman 
as  she  probably  would  have  done  had  she 
lived  at  the  present  time.  What  the  town 
did  with  the  twain  is  not  known.  But  the 
consequences  of  the  business  were  tragical. 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE    WAR.        203 

and  illustrative  of  the  heredity  of  pauperism. 
Years  afterwards,  in  a  drunken  brawl  the  wife 
was  killed  by  the  husband,  and  the  support  of 
their  pauper  descendants  is  to  this  day  con- 
tested judicially  between  Wareham  and  the 
neighboring  towns  into  which  they  drift. 

In  1 801  smallpox  appeared  and  caused 
great  alarm.  It  was  ordered  by  the  town  "  to 
set  up  Inoculating,"  and  a  house  was  taken 
"  for  to  Inoculate  in,"  to  which  families  re- 
sorted, and  where  they  were  fed  on  bread  and 
molasses  while  passing  through  a  course  of 
smallpox,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  times. 

Every  spring  the  keeping  of  the  town's 
poor  was  sold  by  auction  with  their  children 
and  chattels,  if  they  had  any,  and  the  sales 
were  recorded  in  the  town  clerk's  book.  For 
example:  "Vandued  the  Child  of  Lynda  that 
was  before  she  was  married  the  Child  she 
had  on  Nantucket.  Bid  in  by  Ezra  Swift  at 
59  Centes  pr  week  to  be  clothed  fed  &  nursed 
by  sd  Ezra  —  the  Docter's  bil  by  the  Town  — 
til  neaxt  anuel  meeting  if  not  taken  away 
suner."  It  was  a  nameless  child,  needing  a 
home,  a  nurse  and  a  doctor,  farmed  out  to 
labor  by  the  week,  if  not  taken  away  sooner 
by  death !     Another  hard-hearted  sale  by  auc- 


204     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

tion  was  :  —  "  the  Suporting  of  the  widder  of 
the  late  Jonathan  perrey  and  Child  &  also  two 
more  of  the  youngest  Children  and  also  one 
Cow  &  one  heifer  "  —  a  curious  herding  of 
children  and  cattle.^  Later  it  was  voted  in 
town  meeting  "  to  put  up  the  poor  in  lump 
or  together,  and  if,"  says  the  record,  "  they 
will  not  go  five  dollars  lower  why  then  they 
are  to  go  separately."  This  attempt  to 
cheapen  the  cost  of  supporting  them  failed ; 
and  the  widows  were  again  set  up  at  auction 
annually,  and  sold  "  to  be  kept  one  year  their 
clothing  to  be  kept  in  repair  and  to  be  re- 
turned as  they  now  are."  The  sales  were 
made  in  the  bar-room  of  the  inn,  where  the 
landlord,  as  he  served  the  thirsty  guests  from 
his  decanters,  discussed  with  them  the  value 
of  the  services  of  the  paupers  for  whose 
keeping  they  had  come  to  bid.  The  sales 
records  ran  as  follows  :  — 

1814  —  "  Jurned  from  the  meeting-house  down 
to  Benjamin  Fearings  house  to  vandue  the  poor 

1  The  town  records  show  many  transactions  which  would 
now  be  considered  as  scandalous  :  William  Perce  was  paid 
fifty  dollars  "for  keeping  his  mother,"  and  eight  dollars 
and  eight  cents  "  for  supplying  his  father ;  "  and  the  town 
also  gave  him  two  hundred  and  sixty  dollars,  for  which  he 
"promised  to  support  his  mother  during  her  natural  life." 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE    WAR.        205 

—  the  boy  Lynda  Boyer  brot  from  Nantucket  bid 
of  to  John  Bates  at  95  Dollars  to  be  kept  til  21 
yeares  the  money  to  be  paid  in  saven  yeares 
in  proportion  yearly  —  the  Wd  and  Daughter 
Bethany  Barrowes  bid  to  prince  Burges  at  $84  & 
one  half  Dollars  for  one  year  to  clothe  victual 
&:  Docter  &  nurse  her —  Salome  Bump  bid  of  by 
James  Leonard  at  38  Dollares  &  75  Centes  for 
one  year  to  cloth  &  nurse  &  pay  the  Docteres 
bil  —  the  Wd  Mary  Bump  bid  of  by  Ebenezer 
Raymond  at  40  Dollares  for  one  year  to  vittle 
and  cloth  &  nurse  &  Doctor  her." 

1819  —  "  Voted  to  vandue  some  of  the  poore 
Children  such  as  could  not  be  put  out.  The 
Fry  girl  was  bid  of  by  Moses  S.  Fearing  at  $89 
to  be  paid  by  proposion  according  to  the  number 
of  yeares  he  keepes  her.  The  perry  boy  and  girl 
bid  of  by  Joseph  Gibbs  at  fifty  nyne  Dollares  to 
be  paid  in  proposion.  One  boy  bid  of  by  Joshua 
Gibbs  at  Seventy  nyne  Centes  pr  week." 

1822.  "Voted  not  to  build  a  poor  or  work- 
house. Ada  Bumpas  was  then  set  up  to  be  kept 
untill  next  March  meeting  and  was  bid  off  by 
Curtis  Tobey  for  $1  pr  week." 

A  condition  of  the  sales  was  that  the  buyers 
should  pay  the  doctor's  bills  ;  a  condition 
often  disregarded,  and  when  the  unpaid  doc- 
tor sent  his  bills  to  the  town  meeting  they 


206     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

were  sharply  criticised  ;  and  when  Peter 
Mackie,  the  town  physician,  rebelled  against 
this  treatment,  it  was  proposed  that  he 
should  doctor  all  the  paupers  for  twenty-five 
dollars  a  year.  "  And  he  agreed  to  do  it  for 
that  sum,"  triumphantly  wrote  the  town  clerk 
in  the  town  records. 

Physic  was  held  in  veneration.  It  was  a 
custom  of  all  well-regulated  families,  in  the 
spring,  to  take  large  purges  of  senna,  or  mix- 
tures of  brimstone,  rhubarb,  and  molasses. 
In  a  serious  illness  cupping  and  leeching 
were  resorted  to  ;  mercury  was  administered 
until  the  teeth  became  loose ;  water  was  de- 
nied to  the  sufferer  in  a  raging  fever,  and 
salt  clam  juice  was  offered  to  assuage  thirst. 
One  might  have  an  aching  tooth  jerked  out 
by  the  fall  of  a  ten  -  pound  weight  tied  to  it, 
or  the  pain  might  be  destroyed  by  pressing 
quicklime  into  the  cavity.  But  fortunately 
the  race  was  hardy,  and  many  people  lived  to 
an  old  age  in  spite  of  the  doctor  and  his  nos- 
trums. Those  who  died  in  old  age  were  said 
to  have  died  "of  a  hectical  decay."  Other 
causes  of  death  noted  in  the  church  records 
were  :  "  of  the  numb  palsie  ;  of  a  dropsical 
consumption ;  of  the  quimsey  ;  of  a  carking 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER    THE    WAR.        207 

humour  about  the  throat ;  of  a  putrid  fever  ; 
of  a  canker  rash ;  of  a  perizeneumony ;  of  a 
stoppage  by  eating  cherries  ;  of  a  yellow  ner- 
vous fever  ;  of  a  carbuncle ;  of  a  cramp  in 
her  stomach  ;  of  a  mortification." 

When  the  war  was  ended  there  were  no 
conveniences  for  traveling  to  other  towns. 
The  roads,  overgrown  by  trees,  were  more 
suitable  for  horses  than  for  wheeled  vehicles. 
A  coach  began  to  run  regularly  from  New 
Bedford  to  Boston  in  1797,  the  trees  on  each 
side  of  the  highway  having  been  trimmed  to 
make  room  for  it  to  pass  ;  but  as  Wareham 
was  not  on  its  route,  a  post-rider  rode  once  a 
week  through  the  town,  calling  at  the  inn  for 
letters  and  connecting  with  the  coach.  This 
was  the  only  line  of  communication  with 
Boston  for  many  years,  except  by  sea. 

The  isolated  position  of  the  town  did  not 
hinder  its  prosperity.  Farms  were  fertile, 
shipyards  touched  homesteads  at  the  Nar- 
rows, where  freighting  and  whaling  vessels 
were  built.  The  owners  of  these  were  the 
thrifty  farmers,  tradesmen,  and  mechanics  of 
the  town,  who  were  able  to  furnish,  for  the 
building  of  a  ship,  timber  from  their  lands, 
materials  from  their  stores,  and  labor  with 


208     COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

their  own  hands.  The  abundant  fisheries  in 
Buzzard's  Bay  and  its  influent  streams  also 
contributed  to  the  town's  prosperity.  Colo- 
nial laws  restricted  the  use  of  seines  and 
nets  in  these  fisheries ;  and  although  similar 
laws  are  now  in  force,  contraband  fishermen 
are  sometimes  discovered  in  the  bay,  at  early 
dawn,  filling  their  sloops  with  fish  unlawfully 
taken. 

The  Woonkinco  River  entered  the  bay  by 
a  deep  channel,  and  the  harbor  was  often  astir 
with  sloops,  schooners,  and  ships  arriving 
and  departing.  Small  sailing  vessels  from  the 
bay  passed  up  the  Weweantet  River  to  the 
"brickkiln  landing,"  near  Blackmer's  Pond, 
where  bricks  were  made,  and  farmers  landed 
crops  gathered  on  the  bay  shores.  Squire 
Fearing's  farm  included  lands  in  Agawame, 
and  as  they  were  six  or  seven  miles  from  his 
dwelling-house,  the  crops  were  brought  to 
this  landing,  and  carted  thence  to  his  barns. 
One  autumn,  as  the  story  goes,  he  had  corn 
to  be  harvested  on  the  island  off  Fearing 
Neck,  and  his  neighbor,  Captain  Uriah  Sav- 
ery,  had  a  sloop  which  the  Squire  hired  to 
bring  home  the  corn ;  having  assured  the 
captain  that  he  knew  the  channels  and  could 


TOWN  LIFE  AFTER   THE  WAR.         209 

pilot  the  way  to  the  island.  They  started 
from  the  landing  and  easily  ran  down  the 
river  to  Great  Hill.  After  passing  this  prom- 
ontory the  Squire  lost  the  way.  Looking 
across  the  bay,  all  the  headlands  and  coves 
appeared  alike  to  him,  and  he  could  recognize 
no  landmark  by  which  to  direct  a  course.  He 
gave  the  captain  orders  to  steer  in  so  many 
diverse  directions  that  the  old  mariner  was 
convinced  that  this  justice  of  the  peace,  who 
dispensed  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth 
from  Fearing  Hill,  was  more  of  a  farmer  than 
a  navigator.  In  his  humiliation  the  Squire 
confessed  that  he  did  not  know  the  marine 
way  to  the  island,  but  he  had  often  gone  to  it 
by  land  and  swum  his  carts  and  oxen  across 
the  channel.  The  captain  put  the  sloop  be- 
fore the  wind,  and  running  her  towards  Tem- 
pest Knob  had  the  good  fortune  to  make 
Fearing  Neck.  As  they  passed  along  the 
shores  not  a  landmark  was  recognized  by  the 
Squire.  Suddenly  he  vindicated  his  claim  to 
be  a  pilot  by  exclaiming :  "  Uriah !  Uriah  !  I 
told  ye  I  knew  the  way;  there's  old  Mac- 
manaman  and  his  striped  oxen  on  the  shore 
for  sartin ! " 


XIV. 


THE  BRITISH  RAID. 


HE  second  war  with  Great  Britain, 
declared  by  Congress  in  June, 
1 8 12,  excited  no  interest  in  the 
town.  Public  sentiment  throughout  Plymouth 
County  was  not  only  opposed  to  it,  but  found 
vent  in  resolutions  which,  if  they  had  been 
made  in  1776,  would  have  caused  those  who 
made  them  to  be  expatriated  as  tories.  Public 
meetings  proclaimed  it  "to  be  disrespectful 
in  the  inhabitants "  to  do  anything  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war,  and  that  they  would 
"  support  each  other  against  all  attempts  of 
whatsoever  nature  to  injure  them  for  any- 
thing they  rightfully  do  or  say."  A  spirit 
of  independence  was  everywhere  exhibited, 
which  would  not  have  been  allowed  expres- 
sion in  the  years  when  a  "  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence, Inspection  and  Safety"  tyran^ 
nized  over  all  personal  opinions. 


THE  BRITISH  RAID.  211 

A  Wareham  schooner  bound  home  from 
Turk's  Island  in  the  Bahamas,  and  another 
outward  bound  to  Brazil,  had  been  captured 
by  the  enemy ;  but  as  hostilities  were  con- 
fined mainly  to  the  coast  of  the  Southern 
States,  the  town  considered  itself  secure  in 
its  isolated  position.  This  illusion  was  dis- 
pelled on  Monday  morning  the  13th  of  June, 
18 14,  when  the  British  brig-of-war  Nimrod 
came  up  the  bay  and  anchored  near  Bird 
Island.  She  belonged  to  a  blockading  squad- 
ron which  for  several  months  had  worked  off 
and  on  the  coast,  foraging  at  unprotected 
places,  seizing  small  craft,  and  harassing  the 
commerce  of  Newport,  Nantucket,  and  New 
Bedford.  A  few  days  previous  her  boats  had 
come  up  the  bay  and  cut  out  three  sloops 
belonging  to  Wareham  and  carried  them  off. 

From  her  anchorage  the  Nimrod  sent  away 
six  boats  containing  220  armed  men ;  they 
spread  lateen-sails,  and  with  a  fair  wind  and 
a  flood  tide,  filled  away  for  Wareham.  Their 
coming  was  discovered  by  a  man  on  the 
beach  at  Crooked  River,  who  rowed  over  to 
the  Narrows  and  told  the  selectmen.  An 
alarm  was  sounded  through  the  town,  house- 
wives buried  their  silver  spoons  and  porrin- 


212   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

gers  in  gardens,  and  some  of  the  inhabitants 
assembled  at  the  inn  to  consider  what  they 
should  do.  As  an  armed  resistance  was  im- 
possible, they  sent  a  white  flag  to  meet  the 
boats  at  the  landing.  The  British  marched 
up  the  road  unopposed,  set  fire  to  a  cotton 
factory  and  to  several  vessels,  and  then  de- 
parted as  they  came. 

News-gatherers  were  quickly  abroad,  and 
the  Boston  newspapers  were  furnished  with 
various  accounts  of  the  raid.^  A  brief  account 

i"Fairhaven,  June  14.  Yesterday  morning  we  were 
alarmed  by  the  appearance  of  the  British  brig  Nimrod 
with  7  barges  with  her  manned  from  the  74  now  lying  at 
Quick's  Hole.  About  8  o'clock  she  bore  away  up  the  Bay 
and  as  we  supposed  was  bound  into  Rochester.  We  there- 
fore with  a  party  of  men  proceeded  with  a  small  canon  to 
assist  the  citizens,  but  the  brig  had  come  to  an  anchor  and 
manned  6  barges  with  about  150  men  and  proceeded  to 
Wareham  where  they  arrived  at  12  o'clock  and  destroyed 
12  or  13  sail  of  vessels,  among  them  a  new  ship  and  a  brig. 
They  set  fire  to  the  factory  and  left  it  soon,  when  the  peo- 
ple collected  and  put  it  out."  —  New  England  Palladium. 

June  16"',  1814.  "  A  gentleman  from  Plymouth  states 
that  on  Monday  about  200  men  in  6  barges  from  a  74  and  the 
Nimrod  brig  came  in  to  Wareham  and  set  fire  to  seven  ves- 
sels, three  or  four  of  which  were  consumed.  The  others 
and  a  factory  which  was  likewise  set  on  fire  were  extin. 
guished."  —  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

June  iSt'i,  1814.  "  We  learn  by  gentlemen  from  Ware- 
ham that  the  13th  inst.  several  British  barges  landed  about 


THE  BRITISH  RAID.  213 

of  it  was  sent  to  a  New  Bedford  newspaper 
by  two  of  the  selectmen  :  — 

"  Wareham,  June  14. 
"  To  the  editor  of  the  New  Bedford  Mercury. 

"Sir  —  Yesterday  morning  we  were  informed 
of  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  and  at  about  11 
o'clock  A.  M.  they  landed  at  the  village  called  the 
Narrows,  with  a  flag.  There  were  six  barges  con- 
taining two  hundred  and  twenty  men.  They  de- 
manded (before  the  proper  authority  could  arrive) 
all  the  public  property  ;  and  declared,  that  in  case 
they  were  molested,  every  house  within  their 
reach  should  be  consumed.  We  were  not  pre- 
pared to  make  any  opposition,  and  promised  not 
to.  To  prevent  a  violation  on  our  part,  they  de- 
tained a  number  of  men  and  boys  as  prisoners 
for  their  security ;  declaring  that  if  any  of  their 
men  were  injured,  they  should  be  put  to  imme- 
diate death.     Having  stationed  sentries  back  of 

200  men  at  that  place  about  noon.  They  proceeded  to  set- 
ting fire  to  a  large  ship  and  an  elegant  brig  on  the  stocks, 
which  they  said  was  intended  for  a  privateer,  and  several 
other  vessels.  They  threw  a  rocket  into  a  cotton  factory 
which  they  said  they  considered  public  property.  They 
did  not  molest  the  fishing  craft,  and  seeing  the  name  of 
Washington  on  the  stern  of  one  of  the  vessels,  one  of  them 
ordered  it  to  be  burnt.  One  officer  exclaimed  —  'Not  a 
hair  of  the  head  of  this  vessel  shall  be  scorched,'  and  she 
was  spared." —  Columbian  Centinel. 


214    COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

the  village,  they  proceeded  to  fire  the  vessels  and 
cotton  manufactory.  Twelve  vessels  were  fired, 
five  of  which  were  totally  destroyed ;  the  remain- 
der were  extinguished  after  the  enemy  departed. 
The  cotton  manufactory  was  also  extinguished. 

"  Damage  estimated  at  20,000  dollars.  It  is 
supposed  that  the  enemy  came  from  the  Nimrod 
brig,  and  Superb  74. 

Benja.  Bourne,      >      selectmen  of 
Benja.  Fearing,     )    Wareham." 

A  more  detailed  account  was  sent  by  some 
of  the  inhabitants  to  Commodore  Perry.  It 
was  as  follows  : — 

"  Wareham,  June  21,  1814. 
"To  commodore  Perry.  Sir  —  The  following  is 
a  correct  statement  when  the  British  landed  at 
this  place  with  their  barges  the  13th  of  this  inst. 
June.  We  the  undersigned  do  testify  and  say, 
that  on  the  13th  of  this  inst.  June,  about  11 
o'clock,  A.  M.  we  saw  the  British  with  six  barges 
approaching  this  village  with  a  white  flag  hoisted 
in  one  of  them  at  which  time  our  flag  was  not 
hoisted,  but  Thomas  Young  was  carrying  it  down 
the  street  towards  the  wharf,  where  it  was  after- 
wards hoisted.  We  the  undersigned  do  further 
testify  and  say,  that  on  the  landing  of  the  com- 
manding officer  from  the  barge  where  our  flag 
was  hoisted,  he  the  commanding  officer  did  agree 


THE  BRITISH  RAID.  215 

that  if  he  was  not  fired  on  by  the  inhabitants 
that  he  would  not  destroy  any  private  property 
belonging  to  the  inhabitants ;  but  he  would  de- 
stroy public  property  which  did  not  belong  to  the 
town,  and  requested  one  of  us  to  point  out  the 
Falmouth  property  or  vessels,  which  we  agreed  to 
do,  and  one  of  us  went  into  the  barge  with  the 
second  in  command,  and  then  they  took  down 
their  flag  of  truce  and  proceeded  to  set  fire  to 
the  Falmouth  vessels.  They  then  landed  a  part 
of  their  men,  and  in  violation  of  their  agreement 
proceeded  to  set  fire  to  private  property,  by  set- 
ting fire  to  a  vessel  on  the  stocks  and  five  others 
which  were  at  anchor  and  a  Plymouth  vessel. 
They  were  reminded  of  their  agreement,  and  that 
they  had  taken  advantage  of  us  by  false  promises, 
but  they  threatened  to  set  fire  to  the  village,  and 
put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword  if  any  resistance 
was  made  or  any  attempts  made  to  put  out  the 
fires,  for  they  did  not  care  about  any  promises 
they  had  made,  also  they  landed  a  party  of  men 
and  set  fire  to  a  cotton  manufactory.  They  then 
returned  to  their  barges,  took  twelve  of  the  in- 
habitants with  them  on  board  their  barges,  and 
said  if  they  were  fired  upon  by  the  inhabitants 
they  would  put  them  to  death.  Then  the  com- 
manding officer  ordered  the  flag  of  truce  to  be 
hoisted,  and  the  second  in  command  swore  it  was 


2l6    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

a  damned  shame  and  disgrace  to  any  nation  to 
enter  a  village  under  a  flag  of  truce  and  commit 
the  greatest  outrage  and  depredations  possible, 
and  then  return  under  a  flag  of  truce,  but  on  or- 
ders being  again  given  by  the  commanding  officer 
the  flag  of  truce  was  hoisted.  Our  men  were 
landed  about  three  miles  below  the  village,  and 
the  barges  proceeded  on  board  the  brigantine 
Nimrod,  then  lying  in  the  bay. 

David  Nye,  jr.       Noble  Everett, 
Abner  Basset,        Wm.  Barrows, 
Isaac  Perkins,        Perez  Briggs, 
JosiAH  Everett,     Wm.  Fearing. 

"  P.  S.  This  is  known  only  by  the  undersigned, 
no  other  person  being  present,  that  is,  that  the 
British  fired  three  muskets  under  the  flag  of  truce 
before  the  agreement. 

Abner  Basset, 
David  Nye,  jr." 

The  twelve  hostages  were  set  free  near 
Nobska  Bluff  on  Cromeset,  where  the  rivers 
meet  the  bay.  From  this  point  the  boats 
were  watched,  on  their  return  to  the  Nimrod, 
until  they  disappeared  around  the  point  of 
Great  Hill.  Then  the  little  village  at  the 
Narrows  aroused  itself  for  defense.  There 
was  a  mustering  of  the  militia,  rifle  pits  to 


THE  BRITISH  RAID.  217 

command  the  channels  were  dug,  and  senti- 
nels were  posted  to  keep  watch  and  ward 
against  another  surprise  from  the  sea. 

Although  this  raid  attracted  attention  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  was  commented 
upon  as  an  unnatural  retaliation  for  the  neu- 
trality of  Wareham,  the  town  having  fur- 
nished neither  a  man  nor  a  gun  for  service 
against  the  British,  during  the  war,  up  to 
this  date,  the  town  records  are  silent  about 
it.  The  only  allusion  to  it  is  to  be  found  in 
the  treasurer's  account-book,  in  which,  under 
the  date  of  181 5,  it  is  written  :  "  Paid  Archip- 
pus  Leonard  for  standing  guard  when  the 
British  landed,  seventy  one  cents."  And 
that  sum  was  all  that  the  British  raid  drew 
out  of  the  town  treasury. 


XV. 


THE  TOWN'S  BASS-VIOL. 

GLIMPSE  of  the  congregation  in 
the  meeting-house,  in  the  early  part 
of  this  century,  is  revealed  in  an  old 
sermon,  which  mentions  "  Mackie  at  the  holy 
supper  reading  off  the  hymn  in  Scottish  style, 
Fearing  in  the  gallery  leading  the  choir  with 
a  loud  voice,  Savery  with  white  locks  bend- 
ing over  his  staff,  Nye  with  powdered  wig 
like  an  English  judge,  the  aged  men  and 
women  sitting  in  front  of  the  pulpit  in  open 
seats,  mothers  with  babes  in  their  arms  seated 
in  chairs  in  the  porch." 

To  this  congregation  the  propriety  of  using 
a  bass-viol  in  the  services  of  worship  was 
an  ever-present  question.  When  new  ideas 
about  church  music  reached  Wareham,  in 
1794,  the  question  was  considered  by  the 
church,  and  after  the  town  meeting  had  been 
consulted,  it  was  decided,  "Notwithstanding 


THE    TOWN'S  BASS-VIOL.  219 

the  opposition  of  some,  to  have  the  Bass  viol 
used."  This  decision  aroused  that  Puritan 
prejudice  which  classed  the  use  of  musical 
instruments  in  worship  as  an  abomination  ; 
and  therefore  the  church  called  a  meeting  to 
reconsider  the  question,  when  it  was  voted 
"  that  it  is  expedient  that  a  Bass  vial  should 
not  be  used." 

Nevertheless  the  instrument  held  its  place 
in  the  choir  until  1796,  when,  by  an  order  of 
town  meeting,  it  was  put  out  of  the  meeting- 
house. It  remained  outside,  making  various 
attempts  to  get  in,  until  1802;  then  a  request 
for  its  readmission  was  considered,  and  the 
church  was  induced  to  vote,  in  April,  "  that 
we  are  willing  that  the  singers  should  make 
use  of  the  Bass  vial  on  trial  till  next  sacra- 
ment lecture,"  On  a  second  request  the 
church  refused  to  grant  any  further  indul- 
gence. The  singers  then  went  to  the  Sep- 
tember town  meeting,  and  obtained  "  Leave 
for  the  Bass  Vial  to  be  brought  into  ye  meet- 
ing-house to  be  Played  On  every  other  Sab- 
bath to  begin  the  next  Sabbath  &  to  Play  if 
chosen  every  Sabbath  in  the  Intermission 
between  meetings  and  Not  to  Pitch  the 
Tunes  on  the  Sabbaths  that  it  don't  Play." 


220   COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

The  town's  bass-viol,  like  the  song  of  the 
sirens,  lured  many  pilgrims  to  forget  the 
country  to  which  they  were  going;  and  they 
so  far  renounced  their  loyalty  as  to  turn  away 
from  the  meeting-house  on  those  Sundays 
when  the  instrument  was  to  be  heard  therein. 
The  most  obstinate  of  these  pilgrims  was 
Captain  Joshua  Gibbs.  From  the  outset  he 
would  neither  listen  to  it  nor  make  a  compro- 
mise with  it.  "The  thing  is  an  abomination," 
he  said.  "  Can't  we  sing  in  meeting  without 
sich  a  screeching  and  groaning  }  My  father 
and  grandfather  worshiped  God  in  Wareham 
without  a  bars  vile.     I  won't  abide  it ! " 

The  church  asked  the  town  to  stop  it ;  and 
in  October,  1803,  the  town  meeting  ordered 
"Ye  use  of  the  Bass  Vial  in  Publick  Worship 
to  be  stopped."  Then  the  singers  and  their 
allies  stayed  at  home  on  Sundays,  leaving 
nothing  for  the  town  to  do  but  to  turn  around 
again;  which  it  did  in  February,  1804,  when, 
as  the  records  say,  — 

"The  Town  met  &  i'^  Voted  to  have  Singing 
in  the  time  of  Publick  worship. 

"  2'y  Voted  that  ye  Singers  Shall  appoint  their 
head  Singer. 


THE    TOWN'S  BASS-VIOL.  221 

"  3*^  voted  to  make  use  of  the  Bass  Viol  the 
one  half  of  the  Time  &  to  begin  with  ye  Viol 
next  Sabbath  day." 

Years  passed,  and  through  them  all  the 
bass-viol  held  its  place  in  the  meeting-house, 
and  its  enemies  kept  themselves  safely  be- 
yond the  sound  of  its  strings.^  In  1826  a 
church  meeting  was  called  to  consider  the 
case  of  some  members  who  for  a  long  time 
had  neglected  to  attend  public  worship. 
"  Three  of  those  brethren,"  say  the  church 
records,  "  being  present,  stated  that  the  rea- 
son of  their  withdrawing  themselves  from 
public  worship  with  the  church,  was  the 
use  of  instrumental  music  in  singing."  It 
was  proposed  to  submit  their  case  to  an  ec- 
clesiastical council,^  when  Joshua  Gibbs,  who 
had  become  a  deacon  of  the  church,  refused 
to  submit  his  grievances  to  the  decision  of 

1  "Decern.  13.  1807.  The  church  tarried  and  Voted 
that  the  singers  be  requested  not  to  make  use  of  the  Bass 
viol  in  public  worship  in  the  meeting  house  unless  they 
give  Cap.  Joshua  Gibbs,  or  his  family  in  case  of  his  ab- 
sence, previous  notice."  —  Wareham  Church  Records. 

2  The  Council  advised  "  the  Church  in  behalf  of  their 
aggrieved  brethren,  respectfully  to  request  the  Society  to 
discontinue  the  use  of  instrumental  music,  particularly  on 
days  of  communion." 


222    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

any  council,  and  abruptly  left  the  meeting ; 
and  such  was  the  power  of  his  obstinacy  that 
this  disloyalty  was  allowed  to  pass  without 
further  notice. 

When  the  church  was  reorganized,  in 
1828,  and  was  taking  possession  of  a  new 
meeting-house,  the  bass-viol  appeared  at  the 
threshold  like  a  ghost  from  colonial  times.  A 
new  generation  had  inherited  the  prejudice 
against  it,  and  William  Mackie,  Nathaniel 
Crocker,  and  Abisha  Barrows  were  sent  to 
the  singers  with  an  offer  to  give  fifty  dol- 
lars a  year  for  the  support  of  a  choir,  if  the 
choir  would  sing  without  musical  instruments. 
Their  errand  was  unsuccessful.  Again  the 
controversy  was  renewed  in  1829,  but  the 
church  had  become  weary  of  it.  The  spirit 
which  for  thirty-five  years  had  kept  up  the 
revolt  was  broken ;  and  the  venerable  Deacon 
Gibbs  went  to  his  grave  leaving  the  town's 
bass-viol  triumphant  in  the  meeting-house. 


""^^^ 


XVI. 

FINAL  TRANSFORMATIONS. 

HE  manners  and  customs  of  colonial 
times  lingered  on  into  the  present 
century,  until  enterprising  men,^  who 
had  come  into  the  town  bringing  capital,  be- 
gan to  erect  cotton-mills  and  iron-works  on 
the  dams  where,  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  the  farmers  had  sawn  their  logs  and 
ground  their  corn.  These  new  enterprises 
created  new  centres  of  population,  and  quick- 
ened the  social  life  of  the  community ;  and 
when  the  manufacture  of  iron  hoops  for  the 
oil-casks  of  whaling-ships,  and  of  iron  nails 
by  machinery,  was  begun  in  1821,  the  town 
was  awakened  to  a  new  and  noisy  existence. 
A  brisk  commerce  enlivened  the  bay  between 
Wareham  and  New  Bedford,  conveying 
1  The  Tobeys,  Pratts,  Murdocks,  Lincolns,  and  Leonards. 


224    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BA  Y. 

Swedes  iron  for  the  rolling-mills,  and  return- 
ing hoops  to  the  whalemen's  town.  Packets, 
—  one  of  which  bore  the  ferocious  name  of 
"  Galloping  Tiger,"  —  loaded  with  nails,  sailed 
regularly  to  New  York,  and  brought  back 
ores,  blooms,  flour,  West  India  goods,  and 
cotton.  Cotton  shirtings  made  in  the  Ware- 
ham  mills  for  slaves'  use  were  shipped  direct 
to  buyers  in  Virginia.  Schooners  loaded  with 
iron  wares  from  the  Wareham  furnaces  sailed 
to  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot,  the  Connec- 
ticut and  Hudson,  to  retail  them  in  the  river 
towns.  Trade  increased  at  the  harbor,  ship- 
building yards  were  enlarged,  and  the  little 
landing-places  formerly  existing  alongshore 
became  substantial  wharves  of  stone  extend- 
ing into  the  edge  of  deep  water. 

The  antique  meeting-house  felt  this  en- 
terprising spirit.  Its  outside  was  painted, 
and  its  neglected  surroundings  were  cleared 
up.  Carters  were  forbidden  to  leave  their 
ore-laden  wagons  near  it,  and  farmers  were 
forbidden  to  cord  firewood  about  it.  Inside 
the  house  on  Sunday  there  was  the  sound  of 
fiddles  and  a  showy  parade  of  singers  in  the 
galleries.  The  oaken  benches  bordering  the 
great  alley  were  taken  away,  and  one  of  the 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  225 

three  outside  doors  was  permanently  closed. 
In  the  spaces  thus  acquired  pews  were  built, 
which  were  sold  by  auction  at  high  prices, 
the  town  clerk  having  been  cautioned  "  to 
give  no  Deeds  till  the  money  is  paid."  The 
new-comers  demanded  that  the  money  re- 
ceived for  new  pews  should  be  used  to  build 
a  steeple  and  to  buy  a  bell.  To  this  the 
farmers  objected,  and  as  they  were  a  major- 
ity in  the  town  meeting,  it  was  there  voted 
"  Not  to  build  a  steeple  neither  buy  a  bell." 

The  meeting-house  had  never  had  a  warm- 
ing. During  winter  its  interior  was  as  cold 
as  a  refrigerator  ;  sometimes  so  cold  that  no 
service  of  worship  was  attempted.  Parson 
Thacher  wrote  in  the  church  records :  "  Feb- 
ruary 21.  1773.  This  was  a  remarkable  cold 
Sabbath.  Some  by  their  glasses  found  it  to 
be  many  degrees  colder  than  ever  was  known. 
Many  were  froze.  I  myself  coming  home 
from  meeting  had  my  face  touched  with  frost, 
so  that  we  had  no  meeting  in  the  afternoon." 

When  wintry  winds  whistled  through  the 
crannies  of  the  meeting-house,  and  flying 
snow  drifted  under  its  doors  and  darkened 
its  rattling  windows,  the  rigors  of  the  Mo- 
saic law  were  preached  to  an  audience  shiv- 


226    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

ering  upon  the  brink  of  the  freezing-point. 
Women  found  some  comfort  by  resting  their 
feet  upon  iron  boxes  filled  with  embers 
brought  from  their  homes.  Men  shrugged 
themselves  into  as  small  a  space  as  possible ; 
while  the  preacher,  encased  in  a  great-coat 
and  mittens,  stood  at  his  post  of  duty  as  if 
determined  to  answer  the  Psalmist's  question, 
"Who  can  stand  before  His  cold.-*" 

The  selectmen  proposed  "to  purchase  a 
stove  and  pipes  and  furnish  wood  and  attend- 
ance "for  the  meeting-house.  But  the  ma- 
jority in  town  meeting,  believing,  it  may  be 
presumed,  that  the  preaching  ought  to  be  hot 
enough  to  warm  the  house,  voted  "  Not  to 
purchase  a  stove  and  pipes.  Not  to  furnish 
wood  and  attendance."  As  descendants  of 
colonial  farmers  they  could  read  their  *'  title 
clear  to  mansions  in  the  skies,"  without  the 
aid  of  fires  and  bells. 

Although  the  meeting-house  was  cold, 
church  discipline  was  active  enough  to  warm 
the  thoughts  of  erring  members,  who,  when 
brought  to  a  condition  of  penitence,  were  re- 
quired to  make  confessions  in  public,  as  was 
the  custom  in  former  times.  A  young  man, 
who  probably,  as  the  song  says, 


FINAL   TRANSFORMATIONS.  22/ 

"  Danced  all  night,  till  the  broad  daylight, 
And  went  home  with  the  girls  in  the  morning," 

became  conscience  -  stricken  ;  and,  being  a 
member  of  the  church,  sought  and  obtained 
its  forgiveness.  The  records  of  1823  state 
that  "  Harvey  Bumpus,  having  a  short  time 
since  mingled  with  the  world  in  the  frivolous 
amusement  of  dancing,  came  forward  and 
made  a  confession  which  was  read  and  ac- 
cepted." One  stood  up  and  confessed  that 
she  had  been  "guilty  of  a  breach  of  the 
seventh  commandment ; "  another  sinner, 
well  advanced  in  years,  confessed  that  he 
had  "  indulged  to  excess  in  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits." 

Intemperate  drinking  was  not  unusual 
in  New  England  towns.  Ministers,  as  well 
as  parishioners,  drank  rum  moderately,  or 
otherwise.  At  the  stores  it  was  sold  for  two 
shillings  and  three  pence  the  gallon,  and  a 
decanter  of  it  was  at  hand  in  the  living-room 
of  every  dwelling-house.  At  an  ordination, 
a  wedding,  a  funeral,  a  house  -  raising,  a 
launching,  a  husking,  it  was  freely  offered. 
If  two  men  went  to  the  salt  meadows  to  mow, 
or  into  the  woods  to  fell  trees,  they  carried  a 
pint  of  rum  as  a  matter  of  course.    Although 


228    COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

farm  laborers  worked  from  sunrise  to  sunset, 
if  a  job  was  to  be  done  after  the  day's  work 
was  over,  a  sufficient  compensation  to  the 
men  was  an  invitation  to  "  Come  in  and  take 
a  grog !  "  During  the  haying  season  it  was 
a  custom  of  the  farmer  to  go  to  the  meadows 
at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  and  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  carrying  a  tum- 
bler and  a  decanter  of  rum  for  the  refresh- 
ment of  his  laborers.  In  1830,  through  the 
influence  of  the  church,  a  society  to  promote 
temperance  in  drinking  was  organized  in 
Wareham ;  and  to  "  sign  the  pledge "  was 
then  believed  to  be,  for  the  signer,  a  com- 
plete riddance  from  the  sin  of  drunkenness. 
Annually,  in  April,  the  governor's  fast-day 
was  observed  by  going  to  the  meeting-house 
to  listen  to  a  long  sermon  ;  and  in  November 
Thanksgiving  day  was  observed  by  a  similar 
service,  followed  by  the  cheer  of  an  ample  din- 
ner at  home,  for  which  preparations  had  been 
going  on  for  a  long  time.  But  Easter  and 
Christmas  were  unknown.  Reminiscences 
of  Christmas  festivals  as  described  in  London 
story-books  may  have  caused  a  child,  here 
and  there,  to  hang  up  its  stockings  by  the 
kitchen  fireplace,  which  was  spacious  enough 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  229 

to  allow  the  entrance  of  Santa  Claus  and  all 
his  reindeers.  He  never  came  to  fill  the 
stockings,  and  childish  faith  was  turned  into 
unbelief.  In  the  opinion  of  fathers  and  moth- 
ers, any  special  observance  of  Christmas  day 
was  a  deference  to  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

Still,  social  life  was  far  from  being  gloomy. 
There  were  frolicsome  assemblies  for  husk- 
ing corn  and  paring  apples  ;  there  were  after- 
noon quilting-bees,  and  evenings  enlivened 
by  romping  games,  such  as  blindman's-buff 
and  spin-the-platter.  The  sports  and  pas- 
times of  these  evening  parties  not  unfre- 
quently  bordered  on  rudeness  ;  the  youthful 
merrymakers  running  a  gauntlet,  dashing 
through  files  of  their  companions  who,  with 
uplifted  hands  and  waving  arms,  cut  off  the 
progress  of  the  willing  victim,  while  all  sang  : 

"  The  needle's  eye  that  doth  supply 
The  thread  that  runs  so  irue, 
It  hath  caught  many  a  fair  young  heart, 
And  now  it  hath  caught  you." 

Others,  joining  hands  and  wildly  swinging 
around  in  giddy  rings,  chanted  "  Green  grow 
the  rushes,  O "  ;  all  the  measures  of  the 
chant  being  zestfully  marked,  and  interspersed 
with  kisses.     It  was  a  common  custom  to 


230    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

invite  neighbors  or  kindred  "to  spend  the 
day,"  the  guests  arriving  at  nine  o'clock; 
women  prepared  for  knitting  and  needle- 
work, the  elder  men  prepared  to  talk  about 
wool,  cattle,  and  crops.  At  noon  a  bounti- 
ful dinner  was  served  for  them,  the  great 
oven  having  been  fired  the  day  before,  and  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  supper-table 
was  spread  with  all  the  varieties  of  cake,  pas- 
try, and  sweetmeat  for  which  the  hostess  was 
noted.  In  winter  evenings  there  were  sleigh- 
ing parties  that  pulled  up  at  the  tavern  to 
drink  mulled  wine ;  there  were  voluntary  sing- 
ing clubs  ;  there  were  neighborhood  gather- 
ings of  young  people,  who,  seated  in  a  semi- 
circle around  the  large  glowing  fireplace, 
passed  the  hours  in  telling  fortunes,  drink- 
ing cider,  cracking  nuts,  and  eating  apples, 
whose  peels,  pared  off  without  a  break,  were 
twirled  around  the  parer's  head,  and,  falling 
on  the  floor,  were  supposed  to  form  the  initial 
letter  of  somebody's  husband  that  was  to  be. 
A  joyful  event  was  the  arrival  of  a  son  from 
the  city,  whose  tailor-made  clothes  and  dandi- 
fied airs  were  the  pride  of  his  mother  ;  or  of 
a  son  returned  from  a  whaling  voyage,  his 
sea-chest   stored  with  shells  and  curiosities 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  23 1 

from  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
perhaps  bringing  a  piece  of  China  crape  or 
India  muslin  for  his  sister's  wedding-dress. 
Weddings  were  important  events  in  the  so- 
cial life  of  the  town.  Special  journeys  were 
made  to  Boston  or  New  York  to  buy  the  out- 
fit, and  brides  were  often  arrayed  in  gowns 
of  such  richness  that  those  which  have  been 
preserved  to  the  present  day  are  held  as 
heirlooms  of  great  value.  Although  the 
church  looked  upon  dancing  with  disfavor, 
there  were  balls  at  the  tavern  occasionally, 
where  young  beaus  prided  themselves  on 
the  dexterity  with  which  they  "  cut  the  pig- 
eon wing,"  and  whirled  through  the  meas- 
ures of  "  money-musk "  and  Sir  Roger  de 
Coverley.  At  evening  parties,  too,  the  guests 
were  accustomed  to  join  hands  with  the 
hosts  in  a  "dance  around  the  chimney," 
passing  from  room  to  room,  a  merry  go-round 
of  old  and  young.  Going  to  meeting  on 
Sunday  morning  was  also  a  social  enjoyment. 
It  was  like  going  to  a  country-side  gathering 
of  friends  and  neighbors.  The  meeting- 
house door  was  the  Sunday  newspaper  con- 
taining, as  in  former  times,  all  kinds  of  an- 
nouncements  interesting   to   the   congrega- 


232    COLONIAL    TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

tion  ;  and  the  noon-time  intermission  fur- 
nished the  great  opportunity  when  women 
who  had  received  the  latest  fashions  from 
Boston  could  see  each  other  in  their  new 
bonnets  and  "  dandy-gray  russets,"  and  could 
humanize  their  minds  by  an  unlimited  range 
over  the  fields  of  gossip. 

So  old-fashioned  were  the  farmers  that  new 
appliances  for  saving  work  were  not  in  favor. 
Farming  tools  were  wrought  on  the  anvil  of 
the  village  blacksmith,  and  so  were  the  plow- 
share and  the  iron  straps  binding  it  to  the 
mold-board.  The  well-to-do  farmer  kept  a 
horse  and  shay,  but  it  was  only  for  hire  and 
to  carry  the  women  folks  to  meeting.  To 
him  time  was  not  money,  and  if  he  must  go 
to  a  neighboring  town  he  preferred  to  walk 
the  distance  rather  than  devote  the  establish- 
ment to  his  own  use  for  the  journey,  except 
on  unusual  occasions.  Clothing  material  was 
made  on  the  farms.  On  the  kitchen  hearth 
stood  dye  tubs  in  which  fleeces  were  colored 
red  and  blue.  The  industrious  wife  and  her 
daughters  were  skilled  in  carding  the  wool, 
spinning  it  into  yarns,  and  weaving  the  yarns 
into  cloths,  which,  after  passing  through  the 
fulling-mill,  were  made  into  clothing  for  the 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  233 

family.  They  also  made  fine  linen  from  flax 
grown  in  their  own  fields.  The  shoes  of  the 
family  were  also  a  home  product.  Hides  sent 
to  a  tannery  remained  in  the  vats  a  year,  the 
tanner  taking  one  half  of  them  for  his  work  ; 
when  the  leather  was  sent  to  the  house,  a 
shoemaker  was  summoned,  who  made  and  re- 
paired for  every  member  of  the  family  shoes 
enough  to  last  a  year,  taking  in  payment  for 
his  labor  various  products  of  the  farm. 

When  the  farmer  made  his  last  will  and 
testament  he  began  it  "  In  the  name  of  God," 
declaring  that  he  was  now  "  of  a  disposing 
mind  and  memory,"  and  expressing  his  reli- 
gious faith  by  the  following  language  :  — 

"  In  the  first  place  I  give  and  bequeath  my 
immortal  spirit  to  God  who  gave  it  and  my  body 
to  the  earth  to  be  buried  in  a  decent  Christian 
burial  with  a  comfortable  hope  that  at  the  general 
resurrection  it  will  be  raised  in  a  glorious  state." 

To  his  wife  he  gives  "  the  use  and  im- 
provement of  one  third  part "  of  his  real  es- 
tate and  household  furniture,  with  perhaps 
"  two  cows,  one  riding  beast,  ten  sheep,"  and 
a  seat  in  the  family  pew  in  the  meeting-house. 
To  his  unmarried  daughter  he  gives  "the 
privilege,"  or  exclusive  use,  of  a  designated 


234    COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

chamber  in  his  dwelling-house,  with  a  feather 
bed  and  furniture,  so  long  as  she  lives  un- 
married, with  storage  space  in  the  cellar, 
laundry  space  in  the  lean-to,  a  seat  in  the 
family  pew,  "  firewood  for  one  fire  cut  at  the 
door,  sixteen  bushels  of  Indian  corn  and  four 
bushels  of  rye  a  year,  all  to  be  provided  by 
her  brothers  equally  between  them."  To  his 
oldest  son  he  gives  the  homestead,  land  and 
buildings,  subject  to  the  mother's  and  daugh- 
ter's privileges,  and  he  divides  the  remainder 
of  his  estate  between  all  his  sons.  On  his 
gravestone,  set  up  in  the  old  churchyard 
where  his  ancestors  were  buried,  some  pious 
rhymes  were  carved,  expressing  the  belief  of 
mourning  hearts  :  — 

"So  sleep  the  saints  and  cease  to  groan, 

When  sin  and  death  have  done  their  worst. 
Christ  hath  a  glory  like  his  own, 

Which  waits  to  clothe  their  waking  dust." 

In  those  days  there  was  no  mania  for  trav- 
eling, no  longing  for  fashionable  resorts  at 
"the  springs"  or  in  the  mountains,  to  de- 
stroy the  charm  of  village  life.  Perhaps 
once  a  year  a  farmer  with  his  wife  journeyed 
to  Boston  in  the  family  shay,  a  little  hair- 
covered  trunk  containing  their  best  clothing 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  235 

Strapped  to  its  axle,  to  make  a  brief  visit  to 
relatives.  But  families  generally  stayed  at 
home,  excepting  the  daughter  who  found  a 
husband  in  another  town,  and  those  restless 
sons  who  longed  to  see  Boston, — from  which 
news  came  at  regular  intervals  by  a  stage- 
coach and  a  six-horsed  baggage  wagon, — 
or  who  hankered  after  the  sea  and  gladly 
trudged  afoot  to  New  Bedford  to  join  a 
whaling  ship  and  pursue  their  sea  dreams 
beyond  Cape  Horn.  Occasionally  one  of 
the  home-staying  daughters  became  so 
skilled  in  needlework  that  her  services  were 
sought  for  by  neighbors,  the  usual  compen- 
sation for  a  day's  labor  being  her  diet  with 
sixteen  cents  in  winter  and  twenty  cents  in 
summer.  Children  were  taught  to  work  as 
soon  as  they  were  taught  anything,  and 
some,  contented  with  their  labors,  grew  to 
be  men  and  women  before  they  had  crossed 
the  boundaries  of  the  town ;  while  others, 
more  ambitious,  having  inherited  the  ster- 
ling qualities  and  steady  habits  which  this 
honest  mode  of  life  produced,  sought  serious 
occupation  in  distant  cities,  where  they  be- 
came the  founders  of  prosperous  families, 
distinguished  in  social  and  in  commercial  life. 


236     COLONIAL   TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  BAY. 

The  farmhouses  were  low,  rectangular, 
built  around  a  large  square  central  chimney. 
Beneath  them  were  spacious  cellars  for  the 
storage  of  various  products  of  the  farm  and 
other  household  supplies,  with  which  the 
thrifty  farmer  was  abundantly  provided. 
Near  or  connected  with  the  dwellings  were 
barns,  cart-sheds,  corn-cribs,  and  wood-piles. 
A  picket  fence,  or  a  rough  stone  wall,  sepa- 
rated the  highway  from  the  front  door,  and 
a  straight  path  divided  the  turf  between. 

"Adown  the  path  the  poppies  flamed, 
Stiff  box  made  green  the  border, 
And  sweet  blue  violets,  half-ashamed, 
Grew  low  in  wild  disorder." 

At  last  —  it  was  in  1847 — a  railroad  from 
Boston,  creeping  towards  Buzzard's  Bay  on 
its  route  to  Cape  Cod,  entered  the  town 
and  completed  the  social  revolution  which 
for  several  years  had  been  in  progress.  It 
wrought  great  changes.  It  had  already 
changed  the  face  of  the  country  by  starting 
fires  in  the  woods  and  turning  streams  from 
their  channels.  It  now  changed  the  home 
life  of  the  people,  weakened  their  religious 
habits,  lowered  the  value  of  their  farms,  ere- 


FINAL    TRANSFORMATIONS.  237 

ated  new  wants,  and  brought  in  a  population 
of  alien  blood  and  faith.  The  influences  of 
manufacturing  and  commercial  affairs  domi- 
nated the  town  meetings.  A  stress  and 
hurry  of  life  began  ;  and  that  peace  of  mind 
with  time  to  look  about,  which  was  charac- 
teristic of  a  farming  community  in  colonial 
times,  disappeared  never  to  return. 

The  farmers,  who  had  been  contented 
with  the  world  bounded  by  their  town's  hori- 
zon, and  with  labors  which  produced  such 
wealth  as  they  required,  found  it  difficult  to 
conform  their  slow-going  habits  and  inherited 
opinions  to  the  new  conditions  surrounding 
them  ;  and,  being  no  longer  lords  of  the 
manor,  they  lost  the  independence  which 
they  had  always  enjoyed. 

Now  the  farmer  who  is  tilling  the  ex- 
hausted soil  pieces  out  his  scanty  income  by 
trifles  derived  from  a  mechanical  trade.  His 
sons  work  in  the  iron  mills,  the  nail  factories, 
on  the  cranberry  bogs,  on  the  oyster  beds, 
or  they  go  to  sea.  Some,  seeking  a  better 
destiny,  wander  away  to  the  great  city  and 
to  the  far  West,  where  a  successful  career 
leads  them  to  forget  the  old  homestead,  or 
misfortune  compels  them  to  return  at  last 
and  seek  the  shelter  of  its  roof. 


238  COLONIAL  TIMES  ON  BUZZARD'S  bay:- 

Others,  who  are  nearing  old  age  and  who 
delight  to  recall  the  incidents  of  their  early- 
days  in  Wareham,  are  sometimes  drawn  back 
to  gather  up  the  ancient  household  relics  — 

"  The  varnish'd  clock  that  click'd  behind  the  door," 

the  three-cornered  arm-chairs,  the  brass 
warming-pan  that  drove  the  cold  out  of  fea- 
ther beds  in  winter,  the  spinning-wheel,  the 
grandmother's  sampler  wrought  in  strange 
devices,  —  and  to  re-light  their  fire  on  their 
paternal  hearthstone. 


APPENDIX. 


The  following  names  are  of  persons  upon  •whom  a  tax 
was  imposed  by  the  Selectmen  of  Wareham,  in  1783  and 
1784,  to  raise  the  money  necessary  to  pay  the  cost  of  a 
two  story  dwelling-house,  as  described  on  page  154,  which 
had  been  built  for  Mr.  Noble  Everitt,  the  town's  minister. 
These  names  have  been  copied  from  the  lists  which  were 
committed  to  the  tax  collector,  and  they  probably  repre- 
sent nearly  all  the  families  living  in  Wareham  at  that 
time :  — 


Abigail  Atwood. 
Barnabas  Atwood. 
Joseph  Atwood. 
William  Atwood. 

Rose  Barlow. 
Isaac  Barrows. 
Nathan  Bassett. 
Alexander  Bates. 
Capt.  Barnabas  Bates. 
Barnabas  Bates,  3d. 
John  Bates. 
Capt.  Joseph  Bates. 
Samuel  Bates. 
Thomas  Bates. 
Thomas  Bates,  2d. 
David  Besse,  Jr. 
Jabez  Besse. 
Jabez  Besse,  2d. 
John  Besse. 
Joshua  Besse. 
Silas  Besse. 
Thomas  Besse. 


Benjamin  Benson. 
Caleb  Benson. 
Consider  Benson. 
Ichabod  Benson. 
Jabez  Benson. 
John  Benson. 
Dea.  William  Blackmer. 
Isaac  Boles,  Jr. 
John  Boles. 
William  Boles. 
Joseph  Bosworth. 
Benjamin  Bourn. 
Ebenezer  Bourn. 
Noah  Bourn. 
Stephen  Bourn. 
Benjamin  Briggs,  S.  C. 

(ship  carpenter). 
Benjamin  Briggs. 
Ebenezer  Briggs. 
Hallet  Briggs. 
Jesse  Briggs. 
Joseph  Briggs. 
Joshua  Briggs. 


240 


APPENDIX. 


Nathan  Briggs. 
Perez  Briggs. 
Samuel  Bnggs. 
Seth  Briggs. 
Barnabas  Bumpus. 
Edward  Bumpus. 
Jeremiah  Bumpus. 
Lieut.  Jeremiah  Bumpus. 
John  Bumpus. 
Joseph  Bumpus,  2d. 
Widow  Mary  Bumpus. 
Noah  Bumpus. 
Samuel  Bumpus. 
Sylvester  Bumpus. 
Elisha  Burgess. 
James  Burgess. 
Lieut.  Prince  Burgess. 

Jonathan  Church. 
Nathaniel  Cleark. 
Willard  Cleark. 
William  Conant. 
Joshua  Crocker. 

William  Estes. 

Benjamin  Fearing. 
David  Fearing. 
Israel  Fearing. 
Israel  Fearing,  2d. 
John  Fearing,  Esquire. 
Noah  Fearing,  Esqtiire. 
Silas  Fearing. 

Benjamin  Gibbs. 
Jonathan  Gibbs. 
Capt.  John  Gibbs,  Jr. 
Joseph  Gibbs. 
Capt.  Joseph  Gibbs. 
Joshua  Gibbs. 
Capt.  Joshua  Gibbs. 
John  GoUt. 

Aaron  Hammond. 
Edward  Hammond. 


Widow  Anna  Haskell. 
David  Haskell. 
Timothy  Haskell. 
Arthur  Hathaway. 
David  Hathaway. 
Henry  Hathaway. 
Nathan  Hathaway. 
Salathiel  Hathaway. 
Simon  Hathaway. 
Henry  Hedley. 
Seth  Hiller. 
Calvin  Howard. 
Enos  Howard. 

Capt.  John  Kendriclc 

John  LeBaron. 
James  LeBaron  heirs. 
Thomas  Lothrop,  Plymo. 

Doct.  Andrew  Mackie. 
Caleb  Mendol. 
Nubery  Morse. 
Zebulon  Morse. 
Benjamin  Morey. 
Bartlett  Murdock. 
David  Muxham. 
Ezra  Muxham. 
Nathan  Muxham. 
Rubin  Muxham. 

Oliver  Norris. 
Samuel  Norris. 
Capt.  David  Nye. 
Jabez  Nye. 

Ebenezer  Parker. 
David  Perry. 
David  Perry,  Junr. 

Ichabod  Sampson,  Junr. 
David  Sanders. 
Henry  Sanders. 
Joseph  Sanders. 
Isaac  Savery. 


APPENDIX. 


241 


Phinehas  Savery. 
Samuel  Savery. 
Lt.  Samuel  Savery. 
Thomas  Savery. 
Richard  Sears. 
Nathan  Shaw,  Junr. 
Benjamin  Shurtlif. 
Francis  Shurtlif. 
Edward  Sparrow. 
Capt.  Josiah  Stevens. 
Seth  Stevens. 
Andrew  Sturtevant. 
Charles  Sturtevant. 
Ephraim  Sturtevant. 
Hermon  Sturtevant. 
Joseph  Sturtevant. 
Rowland  Sturtevant. 
Asa  Swift. 
Benjamin  Swift. 
Elisha  Swift. 
Enoch  Swift. 
Enoch  Swift,  Junr. 
Jesse  Swift. 


Jesse  Swift,  2d. 
Josiah  Swift. 
Lemuel  Swift. 
Samuel  Swift. 
Samuel  Swift,  Junr. 

Lot  Thacher. 
Rowland  Thacher. 
Samuel  Trip. 

William  Washburn. 
Edward  White. 
Nathaniel  White. 
Richard  Whitmore. 
Butler  Wing. 
Jedediah  Wing. 
John  Wing. 
John  Winslow. 
Tisdel  Winslow. 
Seth  Witherell. 

Henry  Young. 


Of  these  persons  some  were  taxed  as  owners  of  vessels, 
—  as  Capt.  John  Kendrick,  Capt.  Joseph  Bates,  Capt. 
Joseph  Gibbs,  Nathan  Bassett,  Asa  Swift,  Jesse  Swift,  2d, 
and  many  others.  Captain  Kendrick,  the  discoverer  of 
Columbia  River,  is  mentioned  on  page  194.  Nathan 
Bassett  was  the  village  blacksmith,  who  probably  became 
an  owner  in  vessels  by  forging  iron  work  for  them.  The 
town  records  mention  his  employment  to  forge  bayonets 
for  the  town's  six  muskets,  when  news  of  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  reached  Wareham.  Asa  Swift  was  a  ship- 
builder, and  was  building  ships  at  the  Narrows  village  as 
late  as  the  year  181 1.  Nearly  all  the  Swifts  and  Besses 
on  the  tax  collector's  list  were  ship  carpenters,  ship  mas- 
ters, or  connected  in  some  way  with  ships. 

Some  persons  were  taxed  as   owners  of  factories,^ 


242  APPENDIX. 

Perez  Briggs,  Joseph  Bumpus,  2d,  Nathan  Bassett,  Ben- 
jamin Fearing,  Josiah  Crocker,  Enos  Howard,  Dr.  Andrew 
Mackie,  Enoch  Swift,  Lemuel  Swift,  Richard  Whitmore, 
Henry  Young,  and  others.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
what  was  meant  by  "  factories."  There  were  small  full- 
ing mills,  grist  mills,  and  saw  mills  on  the  banks  of  the 
three  rivers  that  empty  into  Buzzard's  Bay  within  the 
town  limits ;  but  there  was  nothing  that  could  be  classed 
as  a  factory,  in  the  modern  meaning  of  the  word,  except 
several  structures  on  the  bay  shore  in  which  salt  was  made 
by  the  evaporation  of  sea  water,  and  an  iron  forge  at 
Tihonet,  erected  soon  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  by 
Samuel  Leonard  of  Taunton. 

In  later  years  the  water  power  of  the  three  rivers  began 
to  attract  the  notice  of  manufacturers  in  other  parts  of  the 
state.  In  18 12,  when  cotton  spinning  by  machinery  was 
in  its  infancy,  Jonathan  Read  of  Taunton  came  to  Ware- 
ham  and  built  a  cotton  factory  on  the  Woonkinco  River. 
This  factory  was  set  on  fire  by  the  British  raiders  of  1814. 

In  181 5,  Curtis  Tobey  came  from  Sandwich  and  built  a 
factory  for  cotton  yarns,  wickings,  and  shirtings,  on  the 
Weweantet  River,  near  Fearing  Hill,  "with  144  good 
cast-steel  spindles."  In  1826,  this  mill,  which  was  neatly 
built  of  stone,  was  leased  to  Bartlett  Murdock,  who  came 
from  Carver,  and  Joshua  B.  Tobey,  at  ^350  a  year.  In 
1823,  a  mill  for  cotton  cloths  was  built  by  Benjamin  Lin- 
coln, who  came  from  Norton,  and  Curtis  Tobey,  on  the 
Weweantet  River,  near  Bump's  bridge.  It  started  with 
420  spindles,  and  employed  two  men,  one  boy,  and  seven 
girls. 

There  were  iron  works  in  the  town  before  the  Tihonet 
Forge  was  built.  Surveys  of  land  made  in  1739  mention 
"  Brigg's  Iron  Works  on  the  Weweantet  River ; "  these 


APPENDIX.  243 

stood  on  the  present  site  of  the  Tremont  Iron  Works. 
In  1 82 1,  Isaac  and  Jared  Pratt,  who  came  from  Middle- 
boro,  estabUshed  the  manufacture  of  nails  by  machinery 
on  the  Woonkinco  River,  at  the  dam,  where  the  first  cot- 
ton mill  was  built.  In  1826,  a  rolling  mill  and  a  nail 
factory  were  erected  at  "The  Poles  "on  the  Weweantet 
River  by  George  Rowland,  who  came  from  New  Bedford. 
In  1836,  nail  factories  were  built  on  the  Agawame  River 
by  Samuel  T.  Tisdale,  who  came  from  Taunton,  on  the 
site  where,  in  1824,  Thomas  Savery  built  a  cupola  iron 
furnace. 

In  addition  to  these  cotton  and  iron  factories,  a  paper 
mill  was  started  in  1824  by  Pardon  Tabor  on  the  Wewe- 
antet, near  Country  Bridge ;  and  in  1829  a  stave  mill  for 
nail  kegs  was  started  by  Lewis  Kinney  farther  up  the 
river. 


INDEX. 


Abigail  Muxom  accused  and  tried, 

143,  144,  15s.  156- 
Abomination  of  the  bass-viol,  220. 
A  ferocious  custom,  132. 
Agawame  Booke,  facsimile  extract, 

45- 
Agawame  Ferry,  194. 
Agawame      Proprietors'      annual 

meetings,  51,  52. 
Agawame  River,  52,  61,  197. 
Agawame  meadows  and  uplands, 

44.  46. 
Alewive  (or  herring)  fisheries,  32, 

52,  89,  181,  196,  197,  198. 
Alice  Reed's  burial,  96,  97. 
Arrest  of  Tories,  187,  188. 

Baggage  wagons  from  Boston,  235. 

Bargains  for  labor,  60,  61. 

Barnstable  rioters,  177,  178. 

Bar-room  of  the  village  inn,  124, 
204. 

Benjamin  Fearing's  Inn,  123,  123, 
126,  166,  169,  204. 

Bills  of  credit  depreciation,  66, 140. 

Blackmers  Pond,  131,  208. 

Boston  "  Committee  of  Corre- 
spondence," 169,  171,  J74. 

Boston  Port  Bill,  loi,  175. 

Bostontown  (in  1738)  and  journey 
thither,  78,  79,  80. 

Bounties  paid  for  killing  wild 
beasts,  30,  31,  199;  received  for 
herring  catch,  197. 

Bountiful  larders,  58. 


Bumble-bee  in  the  meeting-house, 

134- 
Burning  warrants  for  jurors,  176. 
Business        "  concerning       Noah 

Bumps  daughter,"  202. 
Butler   Wing's    promissory   note, 

94, 

Carding  and  spinning,  56,  232. 

Castle  William,  impressment  for 
its  garrison,  104. 

Cattle  marks,  85. 

Cattle  pound  (most  ancient  Eng- 
lish institution),  48. 

Charity  for  the  poor,  40,  41. 

Church  discipline,  142,  159,  164, 
226,  227. 

Clerk  of  the  market,  87. 

Cold  weather,  225. 

Colonial  shillings  and  pence,  68, 
ioS>  195- 

Committee  of  "  Inspection  and 
Safety,"  185-187,  210. 

Communion  wine,  128. 

Constable,  his  badge  and  duties,  92, 
93  ;  his  oath,  200. 

Cornfields  planted,  32. 

Cromeset  Neck,  112,  216, 

Crooked  River,  61,  211. 

Currency,  old  and  new  tenor  de- 
scribed, 66-68. 

"  Damn  the  Country !  "  186. 
Dance  "  around  the  chimney,"  231. 
Dancing  at  the  tavern,  231. 


246 


INDEX. 


Dancing  confessed  in  church  meet- 
ing, 227. 

Deacon  Swift's  Inn,  145. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  in- 
difference to,  183. 

Delinquent  constables,  93,  94. 

Dissolution  of  Old  Colony  Club, 
'73- 

Drawing  jurymen,  176. 

Dreadful  doctrine  of  the  sermon, 

133- 
Dye-tubs  on  the  kitchen  hearth, 
232. 

Embargoes  on  tar,  timber,  lumber, 
etc.,  24,  28,  29,  41,  49. 

Entertainment  at  ordinations,  139, 
151,  152. 

Excommunication  from  the  church, 
159. 

Excuses  for  not  sending  repre- 
sentatives to  Legislature,  172. 

Exiles  from  Acadia,  96. 

Expedition  to  Cape  Briton,  67, 106, 
109. 

Extermination  of  farm  pests,  30, 
31.95- 

Fanner's    inventory   of    personal 

property,  69,  70. 
Farmer's  last  will  and  testament, 

145,  233- 
Farmers  reckoning    accounts,    59, 

60  ;  their  work  in  winter,  199. 
Farmhouses  described,  236. 
Fashions  from  Boston,  232. 
Fearing  Hill,  19,  27,  200,  209. 
Fence-viewers,  88. 
Fettering  the  dogs,  32. 
First  church  organized,  35. 
Fish-inspector's  oath,  89. 
Fresh-meadow  Village,  39,  40,  112. 
Frigid  meeting-house,  226. 

Gager  of  liquors,  90. 


Game  keepers,  92. 
Going  to  meeting,  118,120,127,231. 
Grievances  of  Joshua  Gibbs,  220. 
Gristmill,  subscriptions,  23,  26,  28. 
Grog  in  the  haying  season,  228. 

Haywards,   or    poundkeepers,  48, 

91. 
Highway  inspectors,  88. 
Hog-reeves,  89. 
Horses  grazing  in  burying  grounds, 

136.  >37.  141- 
House   of   Capt.   John   Kendrick, 

194. 
House  of  Joseph  Warren,  47. 
How  a  parsonage  was  built,  154. 
Hunting  for  a  minister,  25,  153. 
Hunting  for  a  schoolmaster,   38, 

165. 

Impressment  laws  of  Mass.,  105 ; 
executed  in  despotic  manner, 
107  ;  of  men  in  Wareham  for  mili- 
tary service,  108,  109. 

Indenture  of  service,  72. 

Indian  sachems  defy  the  title  to 
Sippican,  27. 

Influences  of  peace,  192. 

Inoculation  for  smallpox,  96,  203. 

Inspector  of  rivers,  88. 

Inspectors  of  lumber,  90. 

Intemperate  drinking,  227. 

Intermission  at  the  meeting-house, 
115,  121,  122. 

Jurisdiction  of  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  72,  73,  75,  199,  200,  201. 

Launching  a  vessel,  63. 

Letter  from  Rev.  Timothy  Ruggles 

(1764)10  Rev.  JohnHowland,  36. 
Letter  (1814)  to  Commodore  Perry, 

213. 
Lobbying  the  Plymouth  selectmen, 

77,  80,  81. 


INDEX. 


247 


Loyalty  to  the  King,  173,  174. 

Manotnet  Bay,  54. 

Mariner  in  the  town  stocks,  126. 

Meeting-house,   "rat,"    113;   key, 

114;  hour-glass,  133;   pews,  33, 

113, 123,  129,  225  ;  doors,  93,  113, 

1:5,  121,  128,  161,231;  wardens, 

91,  134,  200;  loft,  116. 
Meeting-house    of    the   year   1699 

described,  33  ;  of  the  year  1770, 

122,  123 ;   transformed,  224 ;  no 

steeple,  no  bell,  225. 
Mending  Jane  George,  100. 
Migratory  schools,  37,  39. 
Military  clerk,  92. 
Minister  Rock,  26. 
Ministers'  horses,  137. 
Minister's  salary  not  paid,  140,  141, 

146,  147. 
Ministry  of  Timothy  Ruggles,  35. 
Ministry  to  be  encouraged  by  whale 

oil,  138. 
Misfortunes  of  Reliance  Bumpus, 

98. 
Modem  trusts  foreshadowed,  189. 

Natural  rights  and  civil  obligations, 

171. 
Neighbors  "  to  spend  the  day,"  230. 
Newspaper  reports  of  British  raid. 


Occupations    of   women,    37,    56, 

232.  235- 
Old  landmarks,  53. 
Orthodox  leather,  88. 

Parson  Cotton's  ostentatious  ordi- 
nation, 151 ;  his  salary  inade- 
quate, 152;  abandons  the  min- 
istry, 153. 

Parson  Everitt's  bargain  with  the 
town,  154;  his  season  of  fasting, 
155  ;  his  secular  occupations,  160. 


Parson  Thacher's  humble  ordina- 
tion, 139  ;  visit  to  town  meeting, 
141 ;  death  of  his  wife,  144 ;  courts 
and  marries  Hannah  Fearing, 
145 ;  his  salary  not  paid,  147 ;  his 
death,  148. 

Physic  held  in  veneration,  206. 

Poor  of  the  town  at  auction,  99, 100, 
203,  205. 

Punishments,  for  breach  of  his 
Majesty's  peace,  73 ;  for  cursing 
and  swearing,  69,  70,  74,  125  ;  for 
being  overtaken  by  strong  liquor, 
74;  for  theft,  74;  for  laughing 
in  the  meeting-house,  117;  for 
traveling,  raking  hay,  and  pick- 
ing apples  on  Sunday,  119,  120; 
for  delinquent  constables,  93,  94; 
for  inability  to  pay  a  fine  of  six 
shillings,  126. 

Quakers'  taxes  abated,  35. 
Qualifications  for  voting,  100,  loi. 
Quarrels  of  the  singers,  219,  220. 

Representatives  in  the  legislature, 
42  ;  not  desired,  83,  171 ;  qualifi- 
cation of  electors,  loi  ;  the  town 
fined  for  not  electing,  172. 

Rochester  rioters,  177,  178. 

Rochestertown  incorporated,  28. 

Rural  population  in  1779,  condi- 
tion of,  189. 

Selectmen,  94,  95,  102,  103,  214. 

Selling  the  British  flag,  190. 

Schoolhouse,  167. 

Schoolhouse  chair,  167. 

Schoolmaster's  wages  and  diet,  37, 
38,  162,  167,  201. 

Schoolmistress,  not  as  the  law  di- 
rects, 37. 

Schools  in  private  houses,  162. 

Schools,  popular  opinion  of,  163. 

Sheep-yarder,  91. 


248 


INDEX. 


Shipbuilding,  63,  207. 

Shoemaker's  account,  195. 

Shoes  bartered  for  load  of  hay,  62. 

Smock  marriages,  76. 

Sneptuit,  32,  40. 

Social  life  at  evening  assemblies, 

229,  230,  231. 
Soliloquy  of  young  woman  going 

West,  193. 
Spanish  silver  money,  52,  67,  68, 

87,  141,  163,  195. 
Stage  coach  route  to  Boston,  207. 
Stinting  the  pastures,  49,  50. 
Sunday  laws  and  observance,  73, 

118,  119. 
Sweeping  the  meeting-house,   91, 

115,  160. 

Tanner's  account,  64,  65,  233. 

Tar  and  turpentine,  24,  29,  49,  58, 
62. 

Taxes  for  Revolutionary  War,  igo. 

Tipstaff,  92. 

Town  clerk,  84,  85,  86. 

Town  meeting,  warrant  for,  93 ; 
business  of,  95,  96  ;  character  of, 
100  ;  resemblance  to  English  par- 
ish meeting,  102,  103  ;  adjourned 
to  an  oak-tree,  1 70 ;  adjourned  to  a 
tavern,  204;  tovm-meeting  nomi- 
nates the  minister  to  the  church, 
149 ;  record  of  town  meetings  in 


the  year  1775  at  Wareham,  179, 

180-182  ;  in  the  year  1776,  184. 
Town  physician  ;  arrives  at  the  inn, 

marries    Charity    Fearing,    and 

teaches  school,    166 ;    cures  the 

paupers,  206. 
Town  system  based  on  property  in 

land,  50. 
Town  treasurer,  86,  87,  181. 
Town's  doorkeeper,  gi,  114,  115. 
Town's  fox  hounds,  igg. 
Town's  stocks,  96,  125. 
Trades  and  barters,  58,  62,  63. 
Tything-men,  89,  90. 

Veneration  for  the  King,  173,  174. 

Wages  of  the  village  seamstress, 

235- 
Wareham  town  incorporated,  82. 
Warning  people  out  of  town,  gs. 
Weweantet  River,  20,  27,  40,  ig6, 

ig7,  208. 
Whaling  voyage,  63,  64. 
Whipping  post,  126. 
Wickets  Island,  52. 
Widow  Lovell,  99,  100,  153. 
Woonkinco  River,  27,  37,  38,  n2, 

144,  160,  196,  197,  208. 
Work  of  the  village  blacksmith,  232. 
"  Wretched   Boys  on  the   Lord's 

Day,"  113,  135. 


INDEX. 


249 


PERSONAL  NAMES. 


Arnold,  Rev.  Samuel,  34-36. 

Baker,  James,  95. 
Barcham,  Robert,  103. 
Barlow,  Aaron,  29. 

Moses,  31. 
Barrows,  Abisha,  222. 

Bethany,  205. 

Samuel,  74. 

William,  216. 
Bartlitt,  Joseph,  45. 
Basset,  Abner,  216. 
Bates  (or  Bate),  Barnabas,  123, 134, 
146,  i8i,  182. 

Margaret,  59,  62. 

Samuel,  45,  48,  60. 

Thomas,  62,  82. 
Beale,  Nathaniel,  45. 
Benson  (or  Bensen),  Benjamin,  1 19. 

Eiisha,  143. 

Jabez,  109. 

John,  156. 

Joseph,  143,  156,  158. 
Besse,  Benjamin,  59. 

David,  93,  187. 

Ebenezer,  60,  82. 

Hannah,  156. 

Jabez,  180. 

Joshua,  108. 

Nehemiah,  65. 

Robert,  108,  no. 
Bishop,  John,  98,  log,  164. 
Blackmer,  Joseph,  58. 

Peter,  30,  86. 

William,  131,  146,  180,  181, 
182. 
Bompasse,  Edward,  98. 
Bourne,  Stephen  (of  Sandwich),  73. 

Lucy,  183. 

Benjamin,  214. 
Briggs,  Ebenezer,  123,  151,  iSo. 

John,  31,  39. 


Briggs,  Joshua,  85,  180. 

Nathan,  108,  177,  181. 

Perez,  216. 

Samuel,  41,  181. 
Bump,  Bamabus,  180. 

Edward,  108,  109,  no,  139, 

Eliza,  74. 

Isaac,  124. 

Jane,  97. 

John,  63,  108. 

John,  Jr.,  74. 

Jonathan,  Jr.,  log. 

Joseph,  180. 

Joshua,  log. 

Jeremiah,  124,  153. 

Lydia,  164,  165. 

Mary,  205. 

Nathan,  95. 

Noah,  109,  202. 

Salome,  205. 

Zaccheus,  no. 

Zaphanier,  68,  119,  181. 
Rumpus,  Ada,  205. 

Harvey,  227. 

Isaac,  40,  123. 

Jeremiah,  Jr.,  124. 

John  the  3d,  98. 

Reliance,  98. 

Salathiel,  177. 
Bundy,  Nathaniel,  76. 
Burges  (or  Bergs),  Benjamin,  41. 

Deborah,  117. 

Ebenezer,  80. 

Eiisha,  95. 

Ichabod,  37. 

Jabez,  74,  75,  tSi. 

Prince,  153,  181. 

Samuel,  81,  86. 

Carver,  Josiah,  74,  123. 
Chapman,  Elder,  28. 
Chubbuck,  Benjamin,  99,  109. 


250 


INDEX. 


Chubbuck,  Cornitt,  45. 

Jonathan,  61,  62,  no,  174. 

Nathaniel,  59. 

Sarah,  99. 

Susanna,  74. 
Clapp,  John,  39. 
Comes,  Anthony,  31,  32. 
Cotton,   Rev.  John   of  Hampton, 
133- 

Rev.  Josiah,  149,  152,  183. 

Rev.  Rouland,  136. 
Cowing,  Caleb,  31. 
Crocker,  Abigail,  139. 

Joshua,  187. 

Nathaniel,  222. 
Cunit,  Josiah,  108. 
Cushman,  Caleb,  143. 

Daws,  William,  of  Boston,  186. 
Delano,  Benjamin,  38. 
Dexter,  Benjamin,  31. 

John,  37. 

Thomas,  42. 
Doty,  Joseph,  24,    108,    109,    no, 
162. 

Joseph,  Jr.,  109. 

Ellis  (or  Eles),  Benjamin,  65. 

Deacon,  165. 

Hannah,  117. 

John,  81,  124. 
Estes,  William,  iig. 
Everitt,  Josiah,  216. 

Rev.   Noble,   iS3-«55>   '59) 
216. 

Fearing,  Ann,  62. 

Benjamin,   70,   74,   86,    123, 

126,  146,  169,  204,  214. 
Charity,  166. 
David,  70. 
Hannah,  145. 
Israel  ('Squire),   55,  62,  69 

70,  77,  78,  83,  104,  129, 14I; 

144,  145,  146,  161. 


Fearing,  Israel,  Jr.,  146;  180,  181, 

183,  197  (Faring). 
John  ('Squire),  19,45,  7°.  7ii 

74,  119,  123,  126,  166,  181, 

189. 
Martha,  69,  188. 
Moses  S.,  205. 
Noah,  70,  170,  177,  179,  i8o, 

182,  187. 
William,  216. 

Gardner,  Henry,  of  Stowe,  182. 
George,  Jane,  99,  100. 
Giford,  Joseph,  61. 

Joseph,  Jr.,  no. 
Gibbs,  Ann  (of  Sandwich),  69. 

Benjamin,  69. 

John,    146,    148,    149,    177, 
182. 

Jonathan,  181. 

Joseph,  205. 

Joshua,  81,  96,  182,  189,  197, 
205,  220,  221, 

Joshua,  Jr.,  109. 

Micah,  82,  197. 

Hamlen,  Thomas,  80,  124. 
Hammond,  Benjamin,  31. 

James,  31. 

John,  29. 

Jonathan,  31, 

Seth,  31. 
Hamonde,  Roger,  103. 
Harper,  Isaac,  of  Boston,  186. 
Haskell  (Hascol),  Mark,  62. 

Roger,  36. 
Hathaway  (Hadawa),  Arthur,  108. 

Simon,  176. 
Hillard,  Jabez,  31. 
Hinkley  (Hinctly),  Thomas,  23. 
Holmes,  Abraham,  178. 
Howard,  Enus,  181. 
Howland,  Rev.  John,  36. 

i  Joseph,  David,  31. 


Kendrick,  Captain  John,  194. 
Kin^,  Eleazer,  62,  164,  165. 

Ichabod,  64,  129. 

Mary,  129. 

Landers,  Joseph,  109. 
Lane,  Josiah,  45. 
Leonard,  Archippus,  217. 

James,  205. 
Look,  Samuel,  41. 
Lothrop,  John,  22. 

Joseph,  23. 
Luce,  Ebenezer,  59. 

Mackie,   Andrew,    160,    166,    180, 
187. 

Peter,  206,  218. 

William,  222. 
Marshall  (Mashell),  Jane,  37. 
Maverick  Samuel,  (quoted),  137. 
Moor,  Thomas,  of  Boston,  186. 
Morse  (or  Mosse),  Joshua,  74. 

Elizabeth,  120. 

Job,  120. 
Morton,  Nathaniel,  45. 

Josiah,  45. 
Muxom,  Abigail,  142,  143,  144,  155, 
156,  157.  158,  159- 

Edmund,  143,  156,  15S,  159. 

Norris  (or  Nores),  John,  60. 

Oliver,  51,  S9,  109. 

Thomas,  181. 
Nye,  David,  181,  189,  218. 

David,  Jr.,  216. 

Oliver,  Peter,  39. 

Parker,  William,  74. 
Parmenter,  Mary,  76. 
Paybody,  William,  23. 
Peabody,  Andrew  P.  (quoted),  174. 
Pennerine,  John,  96,  97. 
Perce,  William,  204. 
Perkins,  Isaac,  216. 


INDEX.  251 

Perry  (or  Peary),  Ebenezer,  65, 106, 
109,  146. 

Ebenezer,  Jr.,  io6. 

Jonathan,  204. 

Samuel,  log. 
Pope,  Seth,  45. 
Prince,  Samuel,  29,  42. 


Ra3rnient  (or  Raymond),  Paul,  109. 

Edward,  no. 

William,  165. 
Reed,  Alice,  96,  97. 
Robbins,  Rev.  Chandler,  137. 
Rotch,  William  (quoted),  185. 
Ruggles,  Rev.  Timothy,  35,  36,  37, 

Timothy,  Jr.,  33,  42. 

Samson,  Ichabod,  114,  132. 

Thomas,  132,  133. 
Sanders,  Henry,  Jr.,  61. 
Saunders,  John,  76. 
Savery,  Deborah,  96. 

Ester,  59. 

Joseph,  70. 

Samuel,  123,   151,   165,  180, 
181. 

Uriah,  82,  113,  208. 
Shearman,  Nathan,  76. 
Shiverick,  Rev.  Samuel,  25,  26. 
Smith,  Benjamin,  of  Taunton,  89. 
Stevens,  Josiah,  100. 

Timothy,  31. 
Stuart,  James,  31. 
Sturdifant,  Joseph,  181. 
Swift,  Barnabas,  73. 

Ebenezer,    59,    69,    73,   82.,. 
181. 

Ebenezer,  Jr.,  73,  143. 

Ezra,  203. 

Jedidah,  143. 

Jesse,  181. 

Jirey,  82. 

Judah,  no. 

Samuel,  181. 

Rowland,  60,  197. 


252 


INDEX. 


Taber,  Phillip,  Rev.,  76. 
Thacher,  Antony,  139. 

Rev.  Rowland,  129,  130, 132, 
136,  138, 140, 142,  144,  147, 
148,  180,  225. 
Rowland,  Jr.,  148,  151,  181, 
188. 
Tobey,  Ephram,  59. 

Curtis,  205. 
Tupper,  Rouland,  65. 
Benjamin,  162. 
Turner,  Thomas,  31. 

Washburn,  Japath,  119. 
Warren  (Woring),  James,  80,  81, 
174. 
Joseph,  23. 


Warren,  Joseph,  Jr.,  45. 
White,  George,  109. 

Samuel,  23. 
Whitten,  Thomas,  85, 176,  i8o,  181. 
Wickod,  Rebecca,  71. 
Wing,  Butler,  94,  197. 

Jedediah,  161. 

Jemima,  96. 

John,  31. 

Jonathan,  126. 
Winslow,  Edward  ('Squire),  38,  40, 
69,  71. 

Reuben  (of  Freetown),  73. 
Wood,  Josiah,  63,  64. 

Theophilus,  60. 

Young,  Thomas,  214. 


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